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Stability testing results for stock solutions to standardize calibration of field fluorescence sensors

Metadata Updated: November 26, 2025

Optical sensors measuring fluorescence of dissolved organic matter (fDOM) are increasingly used in water quality studies because they provide proxy measurements for a variety of contaminants and constituents of concern including metals and wastewater effluent. Similarly, sensors measuring fluorescence of chlorophyll (fChl) and phycocyanin (fPC) have gained popularity to measure phytoplankton concentration, biomass, and even primary productivity. Optical sensors require calibration using a calibration standard solution which is diluted from a working stock solution. However, preparation of stock solutions is challenging because they are difficult to prepare accurately, need to be prepared in a laboratory setting, and the final diluted calibration standards need to be used immediately because they degrade quickly. Consequently, technicians are not always confident with their preparation technique or the accuracy of diluted calibration standards. As such, there is a critical need for working stock solutions to be prepared and verified in a laboratory by experienced personnel so field fluorescence sensors measuring fDOM, fChl, and fPC can be standardized across the entire agency. Before the USGS National Field Supply Service (NFSS) can provide working stock solutions to sensor users, a laboratory stability study was conducted to determine the shelf-life and ideal storage conditions for stocks prepared using quinine sulfate (used for fDOM sensor calibration) and rhodamine (used for fChl and fPC calibration). Working stock solutions were prepared at the start of the experiment and stored in a variety of materials (glass, high density polyethylene, and low density polyethylene) at two temperatures (4 and 25 degrees Celsius). Benchtop and sensor measurements were made approximately weekly on calibration standard solutions that were prepared from the working stock solutions to test stock stability over a 3-month period from September 2022 to February 2023.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

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Dates

Metadata Created Date September 13, 2025
Metadata Updated Date November 26, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 13, 2025
Metadata Updated Date November 26, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-64592d67d34ec179a8366823
Data Last Modified 2024-04-12T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 0a300e21-2cdf-40f1-8ed5-716da236afac
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 63a57316f8808226ee281fd8631ca265b75d761408570756187237a1638b3568
Source Schema Version 1.1

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