<title>Backscatter corrected Fournier-Forand phase function for remote sensing and underwater imaging performance evaluation</title>

Abstract

A new more general phase function is derived which models more accurately the refracted and scattered components of the phase function. Modeling accurately the backscatter contribution is absolutely required when evaluating and predicting the performance of oceanographic remote sensing systems and underwater imaging systems, as the veiling glare from the in water scattering particles is the dominant first order source of image degradation. The function is further generalized to account for the effect of shelled organisms with two different indices of refraction for the bulk material and for the outer shell. It explains some of the puzzling discrepancies noticed by many workers who tried to model the oceanic phase functions using a single overall index of refraction. It shows why the index fitting parameter generally used in the phase function for ocean waters is always higher than the bulk index of refraction of the particles measured in the laboratory.