Modelling water-leaving radiance

The relationships between inherent optical properties of ocean waters and the subsurface diffuse reflectance (R/sup -/) have been explored by a number of workers over the years. It is well accepted that R/sup -/ is related to the backscattering to absorption ratio b/sub b//a (or sometimes b/sub b//(a+b/sub b/)) through R=fb/sub b//a. The factor f has been described by a number of people, with various relationships being suggested for predicting its value. Until the development of "fast" oceanic radiative transfer models such as HYDROLIGHT, most workers have employed Monte Carlo techniques. This work presents results based on Monte Carlo investigations as well as comparisons with HYDROLIGHT results.