FY 1988

Eigenmatrix representations of radiance distributions in layered natural waters with wind-roughened surfaces

Preisendorfer, R.W.

NOAA Tech. Memo. ERL PMEL-76, NTIS: PB88-188701, 93 pp (1988)

This report develops analytic, closed-form solutions for radiance distributions in natural waters such as lakes and seas. The solutions are valid in layered water bodies for which each layer has inherent optical properties (absorption and scattering functions) which are independent of depth within that layer. The water body is assumed free of internal light sources. The effects of a wind-blown air-sea surface are included. This work extends to the radiance level certain results which were previously known to hold for irradiances. The eigenmatrix formalism developed here is convenient for numerical computation of radiance distributions, given the inherent optical properties of the water and the desired boundary conditions at the water surface and bottom (the direct problem). Moreover, the formalism suggests an algorithm for solving the inverse problem: the determination of the inherent optical properties from measurements of the radiance distribution within a water body.