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Algorithms for retrieving inherent optical properties (IOPs) in coastal waters from remote sensing of water leaving reflectance spectra, are increasingly focused on red and near infrared (NIR) spectral bands, since the simple blue - green ratio approaches, valid in open oceans, fail when in coastal waters with strongly scattering inorganic particles and colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM). NIR spectra can however be significantly impacted by overlapping chlorophyll a fluorescence, and considerable progress has been made to quantify its contribution, and hence achieve more accurate [Chl] retrievals. Recently we have been studying multiangular hyperspectral polarization characteristics of underwater scattered light, using our recently developed Stokes vector polarimeter to fully measure Stokes parameters. From these studies, information on IOPs, in particular the characteristics of non - algal particles (NAP), which are the primary source of underwater polarized elastic scattering, can be obtained. Multiangular hyperspectral polarization measurements, combined with those of IOPs collected in eutrophic waters of Chesapeake/Virginia and New York Harbor/Hudson River areas, showed that chlorophyll a fluorescence markedly impacts (reduces) the underwater degree of polarization (DOP) in the 650 - 700 nm spectral region. By noting the unpolarized nature of algal fluorescence and the partially polarized properties of elastic scattering, we are able to separate the chlorophyll a fluorescence signal from the total reflectance. The analysis is based on comparisons of experimental measurements with vector/scalar radiative transfer computations using measured IOPs as inputs. Relationships between change in observed DOP and fluorescence contributions are examined, and the possibility of using DOP measurements for underwater fluorescence retrieval is evaluated for different scattering geometries.
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