Chapter 17
Simulations and Analyses of Variations
in Colorimetric Properties of Natural Waters
with Specific Reference to Waters with
Significant Spatial Heterogeneity of Optical
Properties
Abstract Chapter 17 opens with a brief description of the way of quantification of
water colour properties via such parameters as dominant wavelength and colour
purity. This is done to introduce the reader to an approach of a more detailed
perception of water colour formation under conditions of independently and in
appreciably wide limits varying concentrations of the major colour producing
agents, CPAs, such as phytoplankton, suspended minerals and dissolved organic
matter. The exercises performed by the readers will permit them to realize that one
and the same water colour might result from absolutely different combinations of
the CPA concentration vector. It is hoped that this exercise will help the reader
avoid very frequently occurring erroneous attributions of water colour as it is
perceived from space over case II waters to some definite CPA, e.g. if the water
colour is green, the water must be rich in phytoplankton, and if it is brown it should
be abundant in terrigenous suspended matter with a predominant mineral component, etc. This exercise will also bring the reader to a clear vision why widely
employed bio optical “band-ratio” algorithms can hold exclusively in case I waters
and prove untenable in case of their application to retrieve CPAs in turbid marine
coastal and inland waters.
17.1 Formation of Water Color: A Concise Description
of the Physical/Theoretical Background
The human eye senses the water color through capturing and analyzing the radiance
signal coming up from the water surface. Generally, this signal consists of two
components L surf (þ0,l) and L u (þ0,l), originating respectively from the light both
reflected by the water surface and scattered by the water column back into the
atmosphere.This is the second component which carries information about colorimetric properties of the water column, and consequently about the OAC
concentrations.
I. Melnikova et al., Remote Sensing of the Environment and Radiation Transfer,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-14899-6_17, # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012
169
Simulations and Analyses of Variations
in Colorimetric Properties of Natural Waters
with Specific Reference to Waters with
Significant Spatial Heterogeneity of Optical
Properties
Abstract Chapter 17 opens with a brief description of the way of quantification of
water colour properties via such parameters as dominant wavelength and colour
purity. This is done to introduce the reader to an approach of a more detailed
perception of water colour formation under conditions of independently and in
appreciably wide limits varying concentrations of the major colour producing
agents, CPAs, such as phytoplankton, suspended minerals and dissolved organic
matter. The exercises performed by the readers will permit them to realize that one
and the same water colour might result from absolutely different combinations of
the CPA concentration vector. It is hoped that this exercise will help the reader
avoid very frequently occurring erroneous attributions of water colour as it is
perceived from space over case II waters to some definite CPA, e.g. if the water
colour is green, the water must be rich in phytoplankton, and if it is brown it should
be abundant in terrigenous suspended matter with a predominant mineral component, etc. This exercise will also bring the reader to a clear vision why widely
employed bio optical “band-ratio” algorithms can hold exclusively in case I waters
and prove untenable in case of their application to retrieve CPAs in turbid marine
coastal and inland waters.
17.1 Formation of Water Color: A Concise Description
of the Physical/Theoretical Background
The human eye senses the water color through capturing and analyzing the radiance
signal coming up from the water surface. Generally, this signal consists of two
components L surf (þ0,l) and L u (þ0,l), originating respectively from the light both
reflected by the water surface and scattered by the water column back into the
atmosphere.This is the second component which carries information about colorimetric properties of the water column, and consequently about the OAC
concentrations.
I. Melnikova et al., Remote Sensing of the Environment and Radiation Transfer,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-14899-6_17, # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012
169