Multispectral absorbance and fluorescence analysis of dissolved organic carbon in water samples taken from the Upper Clark Fork River (Montana, USA) during water years 2017 and 2018 (1 Oct 2016 - 30 Sep 2018)

These data were collected to support monitoring of the Upper Clark Fork River (UCFR) restoration. The long term UCFR monitoring project consists of monthly or bi-weekly water quality monitoring across a 200-km restoration gradient contaminated by historic mining practices to monitor inorganic phosphorus and nitrogen concentrations, biotic standing stocks, and heavy metal contamination. The original analytical intent for these data was to assess the response of river dissolved organic carbon to the floodplain restoration. Data are multispectral absorbance and fluorescence analyses of organic carbon dissolved in samples of well-mixed river thalweg water. Data include excitation-emission matrices, absorbance spectroscopy, as well as absorbance and fluorometric summary indices calculated at specific wavelengths of excitation and emission. Data are from the 2017 and 2018 water years (1 Oct 2016 to 30 Sep 2018). Data were collected on the Upper Clark Fork River (USGS HUC 17010201) at project sites distributed along the river from the vicinity of Anaconda to Missoula, Montana, USA.