Sun Glint Manifestation at Evaluating the Black Sea Water Optical Parameters using Satellite Measurements

Abstract

The problem of effective usage of satellite-derived remote-sensing data is considered. Modern ocean color instruments, improved optical models and data processing algorithms provide the possibilities to estimate marine inherent optical properties in routine operational mode. To obtain more reliable quantitative information it is necessary to take into account the dependencies of the results of satellite measurements on the influence of various factors. Sun glint is one of these factors. Typical examples of sun glint manifestations are considered in the results of the Black sea water optical parameter evaluation using the data of the MODIS NASA satellite instrument. The application of the specially selected representative data and the comparative analysis of the joint data obtained by SeaWiFS and MODIS instruments, provided the certain interpretation of these examples. It was found that even moderate sun glint can produce significant errors in chlorophyll a concentration and light absorption coefficients by phytoplankton and yellow substance if the GIOP (Generalized ocean color Inversion model for retrieving marine inherent Optical Properties) complex technique is applied. Errors in the spectra of total absorption and backscattering coefficients are smaller, but also clearly expressed. At the same time the results of applying the chlorophyll a content traditional calculation algorithm are resistant to the glint effect.

Keywords

satellite remote sensing, the Black Sea, sun glint, optical characteristics, chlorophyll a.

DOI: 10.22449/1573-160X-2016-3-47-56

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