Optical properties of inorganic suspended solids and their influence on ocean colour remote sensing in highly turbid coastal waters

The influence of the optical properties of inorganic suspended solids ISS on in-water algorithms was evaluated using an optical model in highly turbid coastal water, whose ISS concentration reached several hundred grams per cubic metre. The measurements were conducted in the upper Gulf of Thailand. The backscattering coefficient of the ISS was calculated using the Lorenz–Mie scattering theory. On the basis of the measurement, the ISS size distribution was parameterized as a function of ISS concentration, and both the spherical and non-spherical particle shape models were evaluated. For ISS concentrations of 10 g m−3, an estimate of the chlorophyll-a chl-a concentration within a factor of 2 on a logarithmic scale is possible in a [chl-a] range of 4–30 mg m−3. The differential coefficient of remote sensing reflectance was calculated to evaluate its respective sensitivities for chl-a and ISS concentrations. The use of radiometric data at 670 nm 700–900 nm is valid for in-water algorithms used to estimate chl-a ISS concentration in highly turbid coastal waters.