Florida State University-led review shows ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry (UHRMS) can identify molecular fingerprints of human activity in global water systems by analyzing dissolved organic matter (DOM), with the work featured as the Nature Water cover article.

Mass spectrometry enables detailed analysis of DOM in water, revealing how environmental changes and human activities alter its composition and properties relevant to aquatic life, water treatment, and biogeochemical cycles.

The study advocates for open data to improve cross-system identification of organic markers and diagnostics, highlighting practical implications for water security amid urbanization, agriculture, fires, and climate change.

Researchers emphasize data openness to enhance identification of diagnostic indicators across systems and to better predict downstream environmental responses.

Arctic thaw and permafrost carbon release are highlighted, with markers identified to predict interactions with the global carbon cycle, including potential transfer to soils, oceans, or atmospheric CO2.

A focus of the review is Arctic permafrost thaw, releasing stored carbon and altering the global carbon cycle, with specific organic markers identified to track these processes.

FSU collaborates with the National MagLab and is supported by NSF, NASA, Novo Nordisk Foundation, and USDA NIFA; co-authors come from University of Wisconsin–Madison and Colorado State University.

The work underscores collaboration among EOAS at FSU and the National MagLab, with funding from NSF, NASA, Novo Nordisk Foundation, and USDA, and includes collaborators from Wisconsin–Madison and Colorado State University.

UHRMS delivers exceptionally precise data, enabling examination of tens of thousands of molecular formulas in a single water sample to identify diagnostic markers linked to land-use change, agriculture, urbanization, fires, and climate shifts.

The review highlights UHRMS at the National MagLab’s Ion Cyclotron Resonance Facility, linking molecular markers across aquatic systems (e.g., Amazon and Mississippi basins) to human activities like land-use changes.

Examples show how molecular markers from the Amazon River Basin relate to markers in the Mississippi Basin, illustrating cross-system connections from large-scale land-use changes.

Key scientific themes include how urbanization, fires, climate change, and Arctic permafrost thaw influence DOM’s molecular makeup and the global carbon cycle, with potential to forecast downstream environmental responses and carbon storage pathways.