Dependence of Attenuation Coefficients on Optical Condition of Shallow Water

Abstract

Radiative transfer of visible light in optically shallow water is an important process for remote sensing and environmental research. It has been modeled using various attenuation coefficients. Although these coefficients are apparent optical properties (AOPs) of water, which are supposed to be dependent not only on the water quality but on other optical conditions (e.g. water depth, bottom albedo and distribution of incident radiance), the dependencies have not been well understood. In this study, 4 practical attenuation coefficients are analyzed and semiempirically modeled, based on the Monte Carlo radiative transfer simulations under idealized optical conditions. We found their diverse dependencies on the optical conditions.