ABSTRACT

The degree of optical complexity of a natural water body is, in general, directly related to its proximity to land masses. Thus, the relative optical simplicity of mid-oceanic waters is usually denied the waters of lakes, rivers, and coastal regions. Optical transmittance T is defined as the ratio of the radiant flux transmitted by an attenuating medium to the incident radiant flux impinging upon it. It is the sets of organic and inorganic materials that attenuate the irradiance and modulate the propagative directions of the photon fluxes that are transmitted through the air-water interface. The radiative transfer process involves complex interactions among the photons and the scattering and absorption centers comprising the attenuating medium. These complexities have thus far prevented an exact solution of the radiative transfer equation and, therefore, prevented obtaining an explicit analytical relationship among the properties of the electromagnetic field and the inherent properties of the attenuating medium.