Ocean Optics

Raphe Kudela & Jesse Bausell

Ocean Sciences Department
& Center For Remote Sensing
UC- Santa Cruz

Kudela Lab Field Projects

IronEx II
SOFex

Bering Sea
Gulf of Alaska

NSF Coastal Ocean Processes

GEOHAB
Ocean Observing

Why
Study the
Ocean?
Covers ~70%
of the planet
About half of
the oxygen in
the atmosphere
is produced by
phytoplankton

50% -- amount of atmospheric oxygen that

comes from phytoplankton.
5% -- fraction of the world coastal oceans
that produces 50% of the planetary
Net Primary Productivity.

65 -- multiplication factor for oceanic carbon

compared to the rest of the biosphere.
50% -- the world's population living within 60
km of the shoreline.
75% -- estimated population living within 60
km of the shoreline by the year 2020.

Biospherical
Instruments

50% -- amount of atmospheric oxygen that

comes from phytoplankton.
5% -- fraction of the world coastal oceans
that produces 50% of the planetary
Net Primary Productivity.

65 -- multiplication factor for oceanic carbon

compared to the rest of the biosphere.
50% -- the world's population living within 60
km of the shoreline.
75% -- estimated population living within 60
km of the shoreline by the year 2020.

Our understanding of the worlds systems depends on observations of ocean color (waterleaving radiance); we infer ocean health, species composition, water quality, carbon cycling,
and trends in these variables by accurately measuring subtle changes in reflectance.

Biospherical
Instruments

50% -- amount of atmospheric oxygen that

comes from phytoplankton.
5% -- fraction of the world coastal oceans
that produces 50% of the planetary
Net Primary Productivity.

65 -- multiplication factor for oceanic carbon

compared to the rest of the biosphere.
50% -- the world's population living within 60
km of the shoreline.
75% -- estimated population living within 60
km of the shoreline by the year 2020.

Our understanding of the worlds systems depends on observations of ocean color (waterleaving radiance); we infer ocean health, species composition, water quality, carbon cycling,
and trends in these variables by accurately measuring subtle changes in reflectance.

And yet.
Legacy & current sensors, optimized for the open ocean, provide inadequate spatial/spectral resolution
90% (or more) of the satellite signal comes from the atmosphere, but existing sensors perform poorly at the
land-sea interface
We cannot currently answer fundamental questions such as:
- Is biomass increasing or decreasing in the coastal ocean?
- Are the organisms potentially harmful or toxic?
- Is the coastal ocean a sink or source for carbon dioxide?
- How are low and high latitude systems (coral reefs, the ice edge) responding to the
unprecedented changes in ocean temperature, pH, and water quality?

Biospherical
Instruments

50% -- amount of atmospheric oxygen that

comes from phytoplankton.
5% -- fraction of the world coastal oceans
that produces 50% of the planetary
Net Primary Productivity.

65 -- multiplication factor for oceanic carbon

compared to the rest of the biosphere.
50% -- the world's population living within 60
km of the shoreline.
75% -- estimated population living within 60
km of the shoreline by the year 2020.

Our understanding of the worlds systems depends on observations of ocean color (waterleaving radiance); we infer ocean health, species composition, water quality, carbon cycling,
and trends in these variables by accurately measuring subtle changes in reflectance.

And yet.
Legacy & current sensors, optimized for the open ocean, provide inadequate spatial/spectral resolution
90% (or more) of the satellite signal comes from the atmosphere, but existing sensors perform poorly at the
land-sea interface
We cannot currently answer fundamental questions such as:
- Is biomass increasing or decreasing in the coastal ocean?
- Are the organisms potentially harmful or toxic?
- Is the coastal ocean a sink or source for carbon dioxide?
- How are low and high latitude systems (coral reefs, the ice edge) responding to the
unprecedented changes in ocean temperature, pH, and water quality?

Biospherical
Instruments

Airborne Sensors: Linking Legacy

to Next Generation Platforms

Where Californias Drinking Water Comes From

Source: Nature Conservancy, http://www.nature.org/media/california/

Santa Barbara Oil Spill May 19, 2015

Earthdata.nasa.gov/labs/worldview

NASA HyspIRI Airborne Program

From Macroscopes to Microscopes:

Scales of Interest for Earth & Ocean
Systems

What Constituents and Processes Determine the Color of Water?

Optics Primer
IOP- Inherent optical property
eg. absorption (a), scattering (b), attenuation (c)
AOP- Apparent optical property
eg. irradiance (E), radiance (L)

Ed()
remote sensing reflectance

Rrs = g

bb

a + bb

Lu

Lu()

aw
aCDOM

Ed

c=a+b
btot = bf + bb

aph
ad

bb

atot = aw + aph + ad + aCDOM

bf

Fluor

Rrs, Lwn, & Ed used in satellite models

to predict IOPs
Lwn()

Rrs()

Rrs = g

bb

a + bb

Lu
Ed

Lwn Lu + Lsky

SeaWiFS Chl a

remote sensing reflectance

10.0

1.0

0.1

Adapted from Kahru & Mitchell 2001

0.1

1.0

10.0

In situ Chl a (mg m-3)

The Coastal Ocean

Conundrum
Unlike terrestrial remote sensing, the target is
constantly moving--we need very rapid image
analysis
The ocean is a dark target atmospheric
correction is critical.
Multiple sensors, multiple problems
Scales of interest range from 10s of meters to
100s of kilometers (but the available sensors
rarely match these requirements!)

All Optical Sensors (Satellites)

Work Similarly
The differences are in:
Sensitivity
Number of bands
Spatial resolution

Ocean Color is a + bb

http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEAWIFS.html

Scattering in the ocean

Coccolithophore
Emiliania huxleyi
http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/earthguide/imagelibrary/emilianiahuxleyi.html

Confluence of Rio Negro and Amazon Rivers, Brazil

Image shamelessly swiped from internet from Star

Dierssen et al., Limnol. Oceanogr. 2006

Absorption plus Scattering

Zhao, Temimi, Ghedira, ISPRS J. Photog. Remote Sens., 101: 125-136

The Coastal Ocean

Conundrum
Most ocean color sensors are optimized for
open-ocean, large scale (>1 km)
Most terrestrial sensors are optimized for very
bright targets (e.g. MASTER)
Airborne sensors fill the gap between what
we have now, and what wed like to have in
the future

What we CAN measure:

bbw + bbp
Lu
Rrs ( )
= cons tan t
Ed
aw + a ph + adm + bbw + bbp
What were reasonably good at measuring: Chlorophyll
What we WANT TO measure:
-Water Quality
-Phytoplankton Species (such as Harmful Algal Blooms)
-Biogeochemistry
-Long-term trends

MODIS Aqua, 8 June 2012

MODIS Aqua, 8 June 2012

Spatial Resolution

September 12, 2006 Time sequence of 710 nm: 

Diurnal migration of the bloom?

0908

0938

1124

1204

1006

1238

Spectral Resolution

Spectral Resolution
Dinoflagellates

Diatoms

Northern Gulf of
Alaska (Copper
River area)

Even though we can only

measure reflectance, we
can invert the data to
produce IOPsthese can
be directly correlated to
biogeochemical
parameters

True Color

Chlorophyll

Metals

SST

Iron
Cobalt
Copper
Mercury
Methyl Mercury
Manganese
Nickel
Lead
Zinc
p<0.001
R2 from 0.52-0.91

May 2004, MODIS

Santa Barbara MASTER 2011 MSLH

MSLH is negative or very small in the
Santa Barbara Channel
Andree Clark mean MSLH: 0.000 sr-1
UCSB Lagoon mean MSLH: 0.001 sr-1

Application

Predicting Impacts Downwind

Pinto Lake Highly Toxic Bloom

52

A Day in the Life of the Oceans Group

Platform
MODIS
HICO

Data Type
MASTER
Analysis Tool

spectra

Team Oceans Projects

Kelp Forest Ecology

Harmful Algal Bloom Detection
Land-Sea Interface
Homeland Security (ship tracking)
Hydrocarbons
Atmospheric Correction

Team Oceans Projects

Kelp Forest Ecology
How do you map a kelp forest?
How does this change as a
function of spatial resolution?
How does the kelp forest change
the surrounding ocean? How
does the kelp respond to the
environment?
Why are kelp found where they
are?

Team Oceans Projects

Harmful Algal Bloom Detection
Can we detect phytoplankton types?

Land-Sea Interface
How would you develop habitat maps for
complex coastal environments (kelp, eel
grass, estuarine waters, etc)

Team Oceans
Projects
Ship Tracking
Can we identify large vessel tracks
(could this be applied to whales?)

Hydrocarbons
There are natural hydrocarbon seeps
in the SBCcan those be detected as
oceanic or atmospheric perturbations?

Atmospheric Correction
How best to remove the atmosphere?

SARP Oceans Projects

Optical Observations at Sea

Imagine
.An imaging optical sensor that meets the following specifications:
A dynamic range of order 1010-1012 (~35-40 bits)
An ability to resolve over 10,000 wavebands over the visible.
A detection limit equivalent to photon flux at the 0.000001% light level
(relative to surface noon) while still resolving colors, and three orders of
magnitude more when shifted (automatically) to monochromatic mode
centered at 498 nm
A spectral response optimized for coastal, green water environments.
Logarithmic ranging
IR and UV blocking to high degree.
Dynamic focusing.
Ability to handle 104 radiance range in a single image.
Spatial resolution of 60 arc-minutes (~250 meters at 700 km altitude)
<100 msec response time
On-sensor adaptive preprocessing, coupled to advanced image processing
~ 3 cm in size
Other models available sensitive in UV, IR, polarization

The product of
3 billion years of R&D!

Optical Observations at Sea

The Secchi Disk:
First systematic usage reported in 1866,
but observed and remarked upon much
earlier.
Early experiments carried out by
Commander Cialdi, head of the Papal Navy,
and Professor Secchi onboard the SS
LImmacolata Concezione (Cialdi, 1866).
Used operationally for establishing aids to
navigation over shallow water.

More Optical Observations

Diffuse attenuation (K, m-1)
e.g., Kd (e.g. Ed (z+Dz) = Ed (z) exp(- Kd. Dz))

Reflectance (R)

e.g., Radiance reflectance (Lu/ Ed; sr-1)

The Fundamental
problem in ocean optics
is to relate the IOPs to
the AOPs.

Measuring Light

Secchi Disk
PAR (light) meter--cosine or scalar
Beam Transmissometer (beam-c)
Radiance/Irradiance meters
Backscatter meter
ac meter
Reflectance (color) meter