The saturation reflectance in turbid waters

RUDDICK, K.; DOGLIOTTI, A. I.; DOXARAN, D.; NECHAD, B.

Darmstadt

Encuentro; International Ocean Colour Science (IOCS) Meeting; 2013

It is well-known that for turbid waters there is a maximal value for the marine reflectance, termed here the ?saturation reflectance?. As suspended particulate matter concentration increases, marine reflectance tends asymptotically towards this ?saturation reflectance? limit. This limit has previously been considered as not useful for remote sensing purposes and, for example, suspended particulate matter retrieval algorithms generally avoid exploiting data close to the saturation reflectance. In the present study it is shown that important new information can be extracted from the saturation regime. The saturation reflectance is analysed here using radiative transfer simulations, satellite data and in situ reflectance measurements in highly turbid waters.