Open AccessThe polarization patterns of skylight reflected off wave water surface
Author(s) -
Guanhua Zhou,
Wujian Xu,
Chunyue Niu,
Haitao Zhao
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.21.032549
Subject(s) - skylight , optics , polarization (electrochemistry) , radiance , brewster's angle , diffuse sky radiation , atmospheric optics , rayleigh scattering , physics , bidirectional reflectance distribution function , scattering , remote sensing , brewster , geology , reflectivity , geography , chemistry , archaeology
In this paper we propose a model to understand the polarization patterns of skylight when reflected off the surface of waves. The semi-empirical Rayleigh model is used to analyze the polarization of scattered skylight; the Harrison and Coombes model is used to analyze light radiance distribution; and the Cox-Munk model and Mueller matrix are used to analyze reflections from wave surface. First, we calculate the polarization patterns and intensity distribution of light reflected off wave surface. Then we investigate their relationship with incident radiation, solar zenith angle, wind speed and wind direction. Our results show that the polarization patterns of reflected skylight from waves and flat water are different, while skylight reflected on both kinds of water is generally highly polarized at the Brewster angle and the polarization direction is approximately parallel to the water's surface. The backward-reflecting Brewster zone has a relatively low reflectance and a high DOP in all observing directions. This can be used to optimally diminish the reflected skylight and avoid sunglint in ocean optics measurements.