Effect of suspended particulate and dissolved organic matter on remote sensing of coastal and riverine waters.

Abstract
We use remote sensing reflectance (RSR) together with the inherent optical properties of suspended particulates to determine the backscattering ratio bb/b for coastal waters. We examine the wavelength dependence of bb(λ) and f(λ)/Q(λ) and establish the conditions when C(λ) in RSR(λ) ≅ C(λ)bb(λ)/a(λ) can be treated as a constant. We found that for case 2 waters, RSR was insensitive to the natural fluctuations in particle-size distributions. The cross-sectional area of the suspended particulate per unit volume, xg, showed an excellent correlation with the volume scattering coefficient.