Ocean Optics

Book excerpt: Since the publication of Jerlov's classic volume on optical oceanography in 1968, the ability to predict or model the submarine light field, given measurements of the inherent optical properties of the ocean, has improved to the point that model fields are very close to measured fields. In the last three decades, remote sensing capabilities have fostered powerful models that can be inverted to estimate the inherent optical properties closely related to substances important for understanding global biological productivity, environmental quality, and most nearshore geophysical processes. This volume presents an eclectic blend of information on the theories, experiments, and instrumentation that now characterize the ways in which optical oceanography is studied. Through the course of this interdisciplinary work, the reader is led from the physical concepts of radiative transfer to the experimental techniques used in the lab and at sea, to process-oriented discussions of the biochemical mechanisms responsible for oceanic optical variability. The text will be of interest to researchers and students in physical and biological oceanography, biology, geophysics, limnology, atmospheric optics, and remote sensing of ocean and global climate change.