Impact of Chromophoric dissolved organic matter on light absorption in lake water on the Tibetan Plateau, China

Ground-based measurements of optical properties are rare for water in lakes on the Tibetan Plateau (TP). We analyzed the spectral absorption of Chromophoric Dissolved Organic Matter (CDOM) for water samples from Lake Namtso (LN) on the TP. The mean value of the spectral slope S280–500 for CDOM absorption was found to be 0.036 nm−1, whereas the corresponding mean value for S350–500 was found to be 0.015 nm−1, implying that when comparing spectral slope values with published values, the wavelength range used for deriving them should be considered.