Optical Properties of the Red Sea

Abstract

Optical properties of the Red Sea are characterized using the Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS) for the period of January 1979 to December 1980. The ocean color imagery gathered by the CZCS is used to determine the diffuse attenuation coefficient, K, at 490 nm. The distribution of K(490) is shown to change spatially and temporally during the 2-year period. The Red Sea circulation is influenced by the monsoons which have significant effect on the surface optical properties. Optical properties of five different regions within the Red Sea are identified and statistics determined. The southern Red Sea exhibits a higher variability than the northern Red Sea. The K(490) optical properties were low during the summer months of June and July but showed a significant increase in November as a result of the onset of the Northeast monsoon. A strong interannual difference in K(490) between 1979 and 1980 is shown for the five Red Sea regions.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 1993
Accession Number
ADA266466

Entities

People

  • Christine M. Kirby
  • Michelle M. Parmeter
  • R. A. Oriol
  • Robert A. Arnone

Organizations

  • Naval Oceanographic Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Arabian Sea
  • Attenuation
  • Coefficients
  • Data Sets
  • Databases
  • Environment
  • Information Processing
  • Information Science
  • Military Research
  • Oceanography
  • Oceans
  • Optical Properties
  • Red Sea
  • Remote Sensing
  • Sea Water
  • Statistics
  • Surface Waters

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Image Processing and Computer Vision.
  • Library and Information Science/ Studies, Southeast Asia Studies, Bibliography of Vietnam and Lao Studies.
  • Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Modeling, Data Assimilation, and Flux Boundary Layers