A steady-state fluorescence technique was employed to study the swelling Of K-carrageenan gels at various temperatures. Pyranine was used as a fluorescence probe. The fluorescence intensity of pyranine was measured during the in situ swelling process of K-carrageenan gels. The fluorescence intensity increased exponentially as the swelling time increased. The increase in the fluorescence intensity was modeled with the Li-Tanaka equation, from which the swelling time constants and cooperative diffusion coefficients were determined. The swelling time constants decreased and the cooperative diffusion coefficients increased as the swelling temperature was increased. The swelling activation energies were measured to be 47.05 kJ/mol. (C) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 106: 4164-4168, 2007