Chlorophyll is in reference to one of several green pigments which reside in cyanobacteria and bound within the chloroplasts in algae and plants. The types of chlorophyll are coded a-d, with chlorophyll a typically being the most abundant form. Chlorophyll is well-known for it’s role in enabling photosynthesis, the reaction by which solar energy is transformed into oxygen and energy for the plant.
Chlorophyll is an important water quality parameter as they can be used to track the health and functioning in-part by indicating the rate of photosynthesis and primary production. Tracked algae and phytoplankton through chlorophyll measurements can be logged and be used as a database to indicate eutrophic conditions and pollutants, including nitrogen and phosphorus. Monitoring using the intrinsic fluorescence properties of chlorophyll is far more advantageous than taking manual grab samples for length laboratory analysis and content identification.
Proteus offers two different Chlorophyll fluorometers
1. Chlorophyll a (blue excitation)
2. Chlorophyll a (red excitation)
Chlorophyll a is the most common choice due the preferential absorption of blue light by algae, and the blue fluorometer is set-up for the most sensitive detection of algae. However, the presence of DOM and particulate organic matter can reduce the sensitivity. The red fluorometer can eliminate this interference using a specific optical setup that capitalises on the non-absorption of red excitation light by the DOM/pollutants whilst the algae does absorb the red so therefore can be used to estimate the concentration of algae without the interference. There are differences in the detection of prokaryotic and eukaryotic algae in specific setups but this an overwhelmingly powerful tool for real-time chlorophyll monitoring and advance pollution warning.
