Assessing the Coloration of Coastal-Zone Waters by Digital Methods

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a study of the mechanisms by which the color of coastal waters is formed on the basis of numerical simulation of the influence on the spectral distribution of ascending brightness of light (outgoing radiation) exerted by absorption, elastic scattering, inelastic (Raman) scattering in a water column, and fluorescence of chlorophyll (Chl) and dissolved organic matter (DOM), as well as the optical interaction of light photons with the bottom of a water body. The authors demonstrate that the radiometric characteristics of water color perceived by an observer from above may experience considerable changes, depending on the nature of bottom cover (ooze, vegetation), the depths at which the bottom occurs, the geometry of water surface illumination by sunlight, and the concentrations of such substances as chlorophyll, suspended mineral matter (SMS), and dissolved organic matter.