Formaldehyde determination in seawater. Preliminary application to coastal samples at Terra Nova Bay (Antarctica).

A sensitive spectrofluorimetric-FIA (flow injection analysis) method for formaldehyde (HCHO) determination was improved with the aim of analysing seawater samples. The fluorescence emission versus HCHO concentration shows a linear pattern from sub microg L(-1) to about 1000 microg L(-1). The reproducibility at 15 ppb level is about 2%.