A biooptical model of retrieving petroleum concentration in seawater

A biooptical modeling, which is based on a radiation transfer model, can be employed to simultaneously retrieve the concentration of various colour factors by multi-spectral remote sensing data, after connecting inherent optical properties (absorption coefficient and backward scattering coefficient) of colour factor with apparent optical properties (remote sensing reflectivity). At present, this method has been used in a relatively wide range of applications in the inversion of a conventional water colour factor concentration in the case II water body: applications such as chlorophyll, suspended sediment, yellow substance. On the basis of extensive field testing data of water quality, correspondingly apparent optical properties, and the full use of the existing parametric model of colour factor inherent optical properties (with the parametrization of petroleum substance inherent optical properties established in the project) the remote recognition model for oil concentration is established by introducing oil as a new water colour factor into a biooptical remote algorithm. The estimated value of the oil concentration was obtained by solving the biooptical model, using the data measured in May 2008 and August 2009 and June 2010 in seawater. The highly accurate inversion result promises to estimate the oil concentration in water for remote sensing.