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THE BACKSCATTERING ENIGMA
One of the fundamental problems in ocean optics over the past several decades has been
understanding the source of backscattering in the ocean. Because of experimental and theoretical
limitations, knowledge of the causative agents for backscattering must be improved. Our involvement in
this project focus on the following:
- -Measurement of the particle size distributions and spectral slope using a LISST-100X
and Coulter Counter
- -Participation in field sampling in North Atlantic, Long Island Sound, and Florida Bay
to measure
backscattering, absorption, remote sensing reflectance, and particle size distributons
- -Analysis of the relationship between backscattering and empirical ocean color algorithms
Initial results from this project have demonstrated that the complex
morphology and hard outer layering of coastal phytoplankton substantially increases their
relative backscattering. Empirical ocean color algorithms have two slopes that are dominated by
absorption and backscattering properties in relationship to chlorophyll.
This research is a collaboration with Michael Twardowski, WETLabs, and James Sullivan,
University of Rhode Island, funded by the Ocean Optics program, Office of Naval Resarch.
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