Optical absorption and scattering properties in the East China Sea

Abstract

The absorption and particulate backscattering coefficients are the basic parameters of the water inherent optical properties (IOPs), which are also the basic parameters for the development and validation of the semi-analysis models of the ocean color remote sensing. In this work, the absorption and backscattering coefficients in the East China Sea (ECS) were measured in the summer and winter of 2009 using the three in-situ optical instruments, including the WET Labs acs, and the HOBI Labs HydroScat-6. Based on the in-situ measured data, the distribution of the absorption and backscattering coefficients in the ECS are analyzed. The results show that in the summer the water absorption coefficient at 440nm (a(440nm),excluding the absorption of the pure sea water) in the surface layer is ranged from 0.022 to 0.067 m-1, and the particulate backscattering coefficient at 442nm(bbp(442nm), is between 0.00064 and 0.03274 m-1. As a whole, both of the absorption and backscattering coefficients decrease with the offshore direction, and the high values located at the mouth of Changjiang River. In the winter, a(440nm) is between 0.051 and 0.887 m-1, and bbp(442nm) is ranged from 0.000639 to 0.14614 m-1 at the surface layer. The spatial distributions in winter are similar as the summer, with the high value in the coast and low value in the offshore. The absorption and backscattering coefficients in winter are significantly larger than the summer's, especially in coastal area near the mouth of Changjiang River, which maybe caused by the southward Fujian-Zhejiang coastal current occurring in winter. As the vertical profile distributions, we find that both of the absorption and backscattering coefficients present a layer structure, which caused by the stratification of the sea water in the summer; while in the winter, affected by the strong wind disturbing, both of the absorption and backscattering coefficients are thoroughly vertical mixing. To our knowledge, it is the first time giving the distribution of the absorption and backscattering coefficients in the East China Sea.