Amy M. McKenna1, Yuri de Corilo1, Huan Chen1, Aixin Hou2 , Christopher M. Reddy4, David Valentine4 and Ryan P. Rodgers1,2

1.Ion Cyclotron Resonance Program, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University, 1800 E. Paul Dirac Drive, Tallahassee, Florida 32310-4005.
2. Department of Environmental Sciences, College of the Coast and Environment, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803
3. Department of Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543

4.Department of Earth Science & Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106

The depletion of terrestrial global oil reserves has shifted oil exploration into offshore and ultra-deep water (>5000 ft) oil reserves to meet global energy demands. Deep water reservoirs are currently in production in many parts of the world, including the Gulf of Mexico, but production is complicated by the water depth and thick salt caps that challenge reservoir characterization / production. The explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon in April 2010 resulted in an estimated total release of ~5 million barrels (BP claims that they collected ~1M barrels, for a net release of 4 M) of light, sweet crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico and shifted attention toward the environmental risks associated with offshore oil production. The growing emphasis on deep water and ultra-deep water oil production poses a significant environmental threat, and increased regulations require that oil companies minimize environmental impact to prevent oil spills, and mitigate environmental damage when spills occur. Every oil spill is unique. The molecular transformations that occur to petroleum after contact with seawater depend on the physical and chemical properties of the spilled oil, environmental conditions, and deposition environment. Molecular-level knowledge of the composition, distribution, and total mass of released hydrocarbons is essential to disentangle photo- and bio- degradation, source identification, and long-term environmental impact of hydrocarbons released into the environment.

Lake monitoring data sets provide feedback to current stormwater management practices. Stormwater is water that originates during precipitation events, and can soak into the soil, evaporate or runoff in nearby streams and lakes as surface water. Stormwater is a resource and important in source water management, and has potential to make urban environments self-sustaining for water use.

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) plays a major role in defining biological systems within water bodies. DOM constitutes the base of organic food chains in surface waters, and plays a critical role in the transport of organic and inorganic molecules. Understanding the processes that affect DOM production, behavior and characteristics is critical to assess the health of ecological systems. DOM characteristics are influenced by the original source of organic material and biogeochemical processes that occur as water moves through watersheds. Previous studies identify landscape differences that produce different types of DOM, in particular agricultural and forested land. There are major difficulties associated with how land cover / use affects DOM because DOM consists of a complex, polydisperse system across a wide range of chemical structures and functionality, and current techniques provide only a proxy on DOM composition. The goal of this study is to compare water quality measurements (i.e., pH, turbidity,) utilized in routine stormwater quality assessment to molecular composition of dissolved organic matter derived from local lakes through a pilot sampling study of heavily monitored lakes, and selected lakes of local interest.