Ra. Maffione et al., MEASUREMENT OF THE SPECTRAL ABSORPTION-COEFFICIENT IN THE OCEAN WITH AN ISOTROPIC SOURCE, Applied optics, 32(18), 1993, pp. 3273-3279
Closed-form equations that describe the vector irradiance from an isot
ropic source embedded in the ocean are rigorously derived from the ste
ady-state radiative transfer equation. The equations are exact for a h
omogeneous medium and are believed to be an excellent approximation al
ong the vertical axis for a plane-parallel ocean. The equations are so
lved for the absorption coefficient as a function of distance from the
source. For clear ocean water, it is shown that vector irradiance mea
surements alone provide sufficient information for an accurate calcula
tion of the absorption coefficient. Measurements in Pacific water of t
he vector irradiance from an isotropic source are presented, and the a
bsorption coefficient is computed. The estimated value of the absorpti
on coefficient from a linear least-squares fit to the data has a stand
ard error of approximately 1%.