The limit of detection of plant pigments in sea water cannot be simply stated. An unlimited volume of water may be filtered for analysis; however, in practice, the volume filtered will rarely exceed 10 liters.
The lower limit of detection for the filtration of 10 liters has not been statistically determined but appears to be of the order of 0.02 mg/m3 for chlorophyll a and 0.04 mg/m3 for most other pigments except chlorophyll c.