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Bright and dark ocean whitecaps observed in the infrared
Author(s) -
Marmorino G. O.,
Smith G. B.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2005gl023176
Subject(s) - breaking wave , emissivity , infrared , brightness temperature , environmental science , brightness , atmospheric sciences , geology , remote sensing , physics , astronomy , optics , wave propagation
Airborne infrared imagery of breaking ocean waves shows that whitecaps on actively breaking wave crests appear relatively bright while residual whitecaps appear dark compared to the ambient water surface. These differences in relative brightness, which appear to arise from changes in both emissivity and physical temperature, provide a means to investigate the evolution of a breaking wave and may be of some relevance to infrared and microwave remote sensing.