Radiative Transfer in the Ocean

Understanding how light interacts with sea water is a fascinating problem in itself, as well as being fundamental to Relds as diverse as biological primary production, mixed-layer thermodynamics, photochemistry, lidar bathymetry, ocean-color remote sensing, and visual searching for submerged objects. For these reasons, optics is one of the fastest growing oceanographic research areas. Radiative transfer theory provides the theoretical framework for understanding light propagation in the ocean, just as hydrodynamics provides the framework for physical oceanography. The article begins with an overview of the deRnitions and terminology of radiative transfer as used in oceanography. Various ways of quantifying the optical properties of a water body and the light within the water are described. The chapter closes with examples of the absorption and scattering properties of two hypothetical water bodies, which are characteristic of the open ocean and a turbid estuary, and a comparison of their underwater light Relds.