ABSTRACTS

Oral Session 6 | Wednesday, October 5, 10:00–10:20 | Abstract 525

A new synthetic database generated by radiative transfer simulations in support of studies in ocean optics and optical remote sensing

Radiative Transfer Simulations (RTS) in natural waters have long been used to study relationships between the inherent optical properties (IOPs) and the in-water and water-leaving light fields from which different apparent optical properties (AOPs) can be calculated. Many inverse models to estimate IOPs from ocean color radiometry have been developed and validated using, in part, results of RTS which are free of measurement errors. Here we present a new set of hyperspectral RTS performed with the Hydrolight v5.0 radiative transfer code. Compared to previously published sets of simulations, this new set accounts for realistic probability distributions of IOPs encountered in oceanic waters and recent recommendations on values of pure seawater IOPs. Moreover, the present synthetic dataset also considers inelastic radiative processes. Three sets of RTS have been run: first, simulations without Raman scattering by water molecules and without fluorescence by chlorophyll-a (Chl-a); second, simulations with Raman scattering; and third, simulations with both Raman scattering and Chl-a fluorescence. Fluorescence by colored dissolved organic matter was omitted. For each of these three sets of simulations, sun zenith angle of 0°, 30, and 60° combined with 2900 different IOP combinations have been considered for a homogeneous ocean surface layer down to 50 m depth. The output of these simulations includes the radiance distributions, plane and scalar irradiances, and the various AOPs including the remote-sensing reflectance, vertical diffuse attenuation coefficients, and mean cosines. The consistency of this new synthetic dataset has been assessed through comparisons with in situ data and previously developed empirical relationships.

Daniel Jorge, LOG–Laboratoire d’Océanologie et de Géosciences, http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4812-9239

Hubert Loisel, LOG–Laboratoire d’Océanologie et de Géosciences

Rick Reynolds, Marine Physical Laboratory, Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Dariusz Stramski, Marine Physical Laboratory, Scripps Institution of Oceanography