Abstract
For satellite remote sensing of red tides, a radiative transfer model for a coupled atmosphere-ocean system was developed to estimate upward flux of radiation from the polluted sea surface.Size distribution and the complex index of refraction of two kinds of red tide algae (Skeletonema costatum and Heterosigma akashiwo) were measured in batch cultures. The equation of radiative transfer in the coupled atmosphere-ocean system was solved by using Delta-P3 approximation method.Upward flux of radiation from the polluted sea surface which contained only the red tide algae decreased with the inclease of algae concentration.Whereas, in case of the sea which contained detritus in addition to the red tide algae, the upward flux had a peak at the wavelength of yellow region.It is, thus, important to determine the concentration and optical properties of detritus for the red tide remote sensing.Ratio of the upward flux at the wavelength of 410nm to one at 560nm decreased with the algae concentration.It is, then, possible to determine the red tide algae concentration by using the ratio of upward flux in satellite remote sensing.
