Analysis of ocean color spectra (I)

By using the two-flow optical model, the variation in the irradiance reflectance of the ocean just below the surface has been calculated for varying water optical properties, for the interpretation of remotely-sensed ocean color data. The input variables used in our model are the concentration of phytoplankton (chlorophyll-a), the absorption coeffiicient of yellow substance, the particle scattering coefficient, the ratio of the back-scattering coefficient to the total scattering coefficient of particles, and the ratio of the absorption to scattering coefficients for particles.The irradiance reflectance increases monotonically with the ratio of the back-scattering coefficient to the total scattering coefficient. Spectral changes occur in the irradiance reflectance for increases in chlorophyll-a concentration and yellow substance as well as the ratio of the absorption to scattering coefficients.Because slightly different mathematical expressions have been derived by other investigators using the two-flow model, an evaluation of the resulting calculation differences is presented and discussed.