Identification of inherent optical properties and bioluminescence source term in a hydrologic optics problem

The estimation of the pair absorption-scattering of inherent optical proper ties (IOPs) and the bioluminescent source profile in natural waters is achi eved from in situ irradiance data. This inverse problem is formulated as a nonlinear constrained optimization problem, assuming constant IOPs and that the unknown bioluminescent profile can be represented by a sum of distribu ted Gaussian sources. The objective function is defined as the squared Eucl idean norm of the difference vector between experimental and computed data. The Hydrolight code, based on the invariant imbedding theory, is used for the direct problem. The methodology yielded good results using synthetic da ta for the joint estimation of IOPs and bioluminescence, performed in an al ternate, step-by-step manner. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights res erved.