Relationship between the Beam Attenuation Coefficient and the Concentration of Suspended Matter in Black-Sea Waters

By using the results of simultaneous measurements of the beam attenuation coefficient and the concentration of suspended matter in water samples, we deduce the relationships between these parameters for wavelengths of 640, 660, and 677 nm. The proposed formulas are used for the evaluation of the concentration of suspended matter according to the data of optical measurements performed in cruises of research vessels. We present two maps of the distribution of suspended matter plotted for the north part of the sea in November–December 1991 and for the south part of the sea in July 1992.