Spatial and temporal variations of the inherent and apparent optical properties in the sea areas around Korea

Abstract

Studying the light field of sea water is important in Ocean Color Remote Sensing (OCRS) because it brings immense information concerning the ocean environmental properties. This magnitude of the Apparent Optical Properties (AOPs) emerges from the sea-surface after incidence light energy has been absorbed and scattered by sea water constituents. In this process, the amount of scattering is a lot smaller than that of absorption relatively. So the understanding of Inherent Optical Properties (IOPs), especially absorption, is very important in OCRS. Many studies have been accomplished in various seas around the world. In optically more complex waters around Korea, we have found only a few investigations on the IOP and AOP. Thus, in this study we analyze the absorption coefficient of sea water constituents, phytoplankton, Suspended Sediment (SS) and Dissolved Organic Matter (DOM) for the IOPs and the remote sensing reflectance for the AOPs. About 1300 water samples have been collected in the Korean waters from 1998 to 2010. It should be noted that sea areas around the Korea have different characteristics separately. So we analyzed the optical properties of each separated sea waters and compared each other results. The absorption spectral shape of SS and DOM showed exponentially decreasing pattern. Each graph's slope includes information of absorption characteristics. Using this results, in the future, we will prompt to develop the ocean environmental algorithms for ocean color satellite images, especially GOCI (Geostationary Ocean Color Imager) which will be launched on June 2010, around the Korean ocean.