Biogeo-Optics: Backscattering Cross Sections for Suspended Mineral and Organic Matter in the Coastal and Near-Coastal Ocean
Abstract
Suspended mineral matter Continues to be the major block to adequate parameterization of optical Case 2 waters, especially Nearshore waters. This mineral matter has an overriding effect on the optics of coastal waters as will be demonstrated in this report. There is a paucity of optical information for the suspended mineral matter of coastal waters which we will be attempting to rectify here. With the information we are suppling & proposing to fill this gap we are creating a new field, geo-optics. This lays the basic for adequate coastal optical models & will even be of importance for Case 1 waters - the open ocean receives mineral matter from dust storms which supply a significant admixture of iron for plankton blooms. The majority of activity in the study of ocean optical properties has been the creation of chlorophyll-based models, the quantification of absorption cross sections, & the partitioning of the absorption coefficient into its various organic components. Our contribution to geo-optics in this report is an investigation of the role of suspended mineral matter in the particulate backscattering coefficient, the forcing function of the remote-sensing signal. From this study it will be possible to partition the scattering and backscattering coefficients into their major components: mineral & organic. We are determining the optical matter in Mobile Bay, Alabama, & the northern Gulf of Mexico off the barrier islands of Mobile Bay, in the northern Gulf of Mexico off the barrier island Horn Island in the Mississippi Sound, & at the Southwest Pass of the mouth of the Mississippi River.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 20, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA433838
Entities
People
- Bruce A. Spiering
- Richard W. Gould Jr.
- Robert H. Stavn
Organizations
- United States Naval Research Laboratory