Influence of Whitecaps on Aerosol and Ocean-Color Remote Sensing

Satellite imagery has revealed relatively large amounts of aerosols and particulate organic and inorganic carbon in the Southern oceans, but it is not clear whether this is real or the result of not taking into account properly whitecap effects in the retrieval algorithms.

By measuring whitecap optical properties and profiles of marine reflectance and backscattering and absorption coefficients, a bulk whitecap reflectance model will be developed. The measurements will allow comparisons of the aerosol optical thickness and marine reflectance one should retrieve (i.e., in the absence of whitecaps and bubbles) with the satellite-derived estimates. The parameters/variables that will be measured include whitecap coverage, surface reflectance, aerosol optical thickness, in situ profiles of marine reflectance, backscattering and attenuation coefficients, and particle size distribution, and absorption and backscattering coefficients and HPLC pigments from water samples.