title: Spectral variability of sea surface skylight reflectance and its effect on ocean color.
abstract: In this study, sea surface skylight spectral reflectance ρ(λ) was retrieved by means of the non-linear spectral optimization method and a bio-optical model. The spectral variability of ρ(λ) was found to be mainly influenced by the uniformity of the incident skylight, and a model is proposed to predict the ρ(λ) spectral dependency based on skylight reflectance at 750 nm. It is demonstrated that using the spectrally variable ρ(λ), rather than a constant, yields an improved agreement between the above-water remote sensing reflectance R(rs)(λ) estimates and concurrent profiling ones. The findings of this study highlight the necessity to re-process the relevant historical above-water data and update ocean color retrieval algorithms accordingly.
authors.forename: Ting-Wei
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Qing-Jun
authors.initials: QJ
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Jun-Wu
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003124:Colorimetry / Q000379:methods*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D010783:Photometry / Q000379:methods*; D013057:Spectrum Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D013499:Surface Properties; D014867:Water / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D014867:Water