A STUDY ON THE DIFFUSE ATTENUATION COEFFICIENT OF DOWN-WELLING IRRADIANCE AROUND THE YELLOW SEA

The diffuse attenuation coefficient for down-welling irradiance ($K_d$) is an important parameter for ocean studies including remote sensing applications. For the vast ocean, ocean color remote sensing is the only possible means to get the fine-scale measurements of $K_d$. To develop a technique of estimating $K_d$ from remotely sensed data, the following underwater optical parameters (absorption coefficient (a), attenuation coefficient (c), scattering coefficient (b), diffuse attenuation coefficient ($K_d$), etc.) have been studied. For this research we conducted the field campaign around the Yellow Sea at $8{\sim}9$ June, 2006. We obtained a set of underwater optical parameter data: down-welling irradiance ($E_d$), up-welling irradiance ($E_u$) and up-welling radiance ($L_u$) using TriOS optical sensors and a, c coefficient using Spectral Absorption and Attenuation Meter (AC-S). We then derived $K_d$ values from $E_d$ for each depth.