Open AccessPolarized light field under dynamic ocean surfaces: Numerical modeling compared with measurements
Author(s) -
You Yu,
Kattawar George W.,
Voss Kenneth J.,
Bhandari Purushottam,
Wei Jianwei,
Lewis Marlon,
Zappa Christopher J.,
Schultz Howard
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: oceans
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.67
H-Index - 298
eISSN - 2156-2202
pISSN - 0148-0227
DOI - 10.1029/2011jc007278
Subject(s) - radiance , light field , ocean surface topography , underwater , polarization (electrochemistry) , monte carlo method , field (mathematics) , wind wave , optics , remote sensing , physics , geology , geodesy , oceanography , chemistry , statistics , mathematics , pure mathematics , thermodynamics
As part of the Radiance in a Dynamic Ocean (RaDyO) program, we have developed a numerical model for efficiently simulating the polarized light field under highly dynamic ocean surfaces. Combining the advantages of the three‐dimensional Monte Carlo and matrix operator methods, this hybrid model has proven to be computationally effective for simulations involving a dynamic air‐sea interface. Given water optical properties and ocean surface wave slopes obtained from RaDyO field measurements, model‐simulated radiance and polarization fields under a dynamic surface are found to be qualitatively comparable to their counterparts from field measurements and should be quantitatively comparable if the light field measurement and the wave slope/water optical property measurements are appropriately collocated and synchronized. This model serves as a bridge to connect field measurements of water optical properties, wave slopes and polarized light fields. It can also be used as a powerful yet convenient tool to predict the temporal underwater polarized radiance in a real‐world situation. When appropriate surface measurements are available, model simulation is shown to reveal more dynamic features in the underwater light field than direct measurements.