Dissolved Organic Carbon characteristic data from Boreal Plains lakes in Western Canada

This dataset includes an excel file with three tabs: Readme, DOC_Chem_Lakes, and Lake_Locations. \"Readme\" contains descriptions of all column headers and data, and provides units of measurement for each tab. This data was collected annually (end of June/early July) from 34 lakes at the Utikuma Region Study Area in the Boreal Plains of Western Canada from 2012 to 2019. Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) concentrations were measured on a Shimadzu 5000A TOC analyser using the high temperature combustion method at the Biogeochemical Analytical Service Laboratory, University of Alberta (BASL). Absorbance (A254) data were measured Varian Cary 100 from 2012 to 2015 and an Ocean Optics UV-Vis spectrophotometer from 2016 to 2019. Fe (Total Iron) was measured at BASL using a Inductively Coupled Plasma - Optical Emission Spectrometer (Thermo Scientific ICAP6300). Specific Ultra-Violet Absorbance was calculated using DOC concentration, and absorbance corrected for Iron. Chlorophyll a concentrations were measured at BASL using a Fluorophotometer (Shimadzu RF-1501 spectrofluorophotometer). An Autotitrator (Man-Tech PC-Titrate with conductivity probe) was used to obtain pH values for each sample at BASL or pH was measured in the field using a calibrated Myron pH pen. Isotopic signatures (δ18O and δ2H) were determined using a Los Gatos isotope analyser from 2012 to 2013 and a Picarro Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy L2130-i isotope analyser from 2014 to 2018 at BASL. Electrical conductivity was measured in the field using either a calibrated temperature level conductivity meter or a calibrated Myron EC pen Lake depth was obtained from measurements at a permanent reference location at the same time as chemistry sampling, and measurements taken from the lake centre in 2012. The difference between the lake centre and reference location in 2012 was applied to other years to obtain lake depth.