Variability of the spectral reflectance and transparency of river plume waters caused by hydrodynamic processes

Conference · Fri Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1997

OSTI ID:508180

Vasilkov, A P; Ruddick, K G ^[1]; Burenkov, V I ^[2]

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1. Management Unit of the Mathematical Models of the North Sea and Scheldt Estuary, Brussels (Belgium)
2. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Moscow (Russian Federation)

The goal of this paper is to present in situ data on the reflectance and transparency of river plumes and to interpret the observed variability in terms of hydrodynamic processes. Data has been obtained for river plumes in the Black Sea and in Arctic ocean regions. Spectral reflectance was measured in the 400-700nm band by a ship/helicopter-mounted spectroradiometer and were supplemented by shipboard measurements of vertical profiles of the light attenuation coefficient. Remotely-sensed data shows the transition from freshwater to seawater with both sharp boundary fronts and wide mixing zones. Internal fronts with quasi-periodic spatial variability of reflectance were also observed within the river plume. The observations are related to the relevant hydrodynamic processes (fronts, advection and settling of particulate matter, internal waves). A radiance model was developed to match the vertical profile of optical properties to the observed variation of remotely-sensed reflectance.

• OSTI ID: 508180
• Report Number(s): CONF-960384--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
ARCTIC OCEAN
BLACK SEA
OPACITY
PLUMES
RIVERS
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
SPECTRAL REFLECTANCE
TURBIDITY