Dissolved Inorganic Carbon and Dissolved Organic Carbon Data for the East River Watershed, Colorado.

This data package contains mean values for dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) for water samples taken from the East River Watershed in Colorado. The East River is part of the Watershed Function Scientific Focus Area (WFSFA) located in the Upper Colorado River Basin, United States. DOC and DIC concentrations in water samples were determined using a TOC-VCPH analyzer (Shimadzu Corporation, Japan). DOC was analyzed as non-purgeable organic carbon (NPOC) by purging HCl acidified samples with carbon-free air to remove DIC prior to measurement. After the acidified sample has been sparged, it is injected into a combustion tube filled with oxidation catalyst heated to 680 degrees C. The DOC in samples is combusted to CO2 and measured by a non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) detector. The peak area of the analog signal produced by the NDIR detector is proportional to the DOC concentration of the sample. DIC was determined by acidifying the samples with HCl first, and then purge with carbon-free air to release CO2 for analysis by NDIR detector. All files are labeled by location and variable, and data reported are the mean values upon minimum three replicate measurements with a relative standard deviation < 3%. The latitude and longitude of each location are given in a file called locations.csv. All samples were analyzed under a rigorous quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) process as detailed in the methods.