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An optical method to assess water clarity in coastal waters

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Abstract

Accurate estimation of water clarity in coastal regions is highly desired by various activities such as search and recovery operations, dredging and water quality monitoring. This study intends to develop a practical method for estimating water clarity based on a larger in situ dataset, which includes Secchi depth (Z sd ), turbidity, chlorophyll and optical properties from several field campaigns in turbid coastal waters. The Secchi depth parameter is found to closely vary with the concentration of suspended sediments, vertical diffuse attenuation coefficient K d (m−1) and beam attenuation coefficient c (m−1). The optical relationships obtained for the selected wavelengths (i.e. 520, 530 and 540 nm) exhibit an inverse relationship between Secchi depth and the length attenuation coefficient (1/(c + K d )). The variation in Secchi depth is expressed in terms of undetermined coupling coefficient which is composed of light penetration factor (expressed by z(1 %)K d (λ)) and a correction factor (ξ) (essentially governed by turbidity of the water column). This method of estimating water clarity was validated using independent in situ data from turbid coastal waters, and its results were compared with those obtained from the existing methods. The statistical analysis of the measured and the estimated Z sd showed that the present method yields lower error when compared to the existing methods. The spatial structures of the measured and predicted Z sd are also highly consistent with in situ data, which indicates the potential of the present method for estimating the water clarity in turbid coastal and associated lagoon waters.

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Abbreviations

AC-S:

Absorption and attenuation sensors

AOPs:

Apparent optical properties

BB9:

Backscattering sensors

CDOM:

Coloured dissolved organic matter

CTD:

Conductivity-temperature-depth

CV:

Coefficient of variation

FLNTU:

Turbidity and fluorescence chlorophyll sensors

IOPs:

Inherent optical properties

MRE:

Mean root error

NTU:

Nephelometric turbidity unit

RMSE:

Root mean square error

SAV:

Submerged aquatic vegetation

TSS:

Total suspended sediment

a(λ):

Absorption coefficient

a t  − a w :

Particulate absorption coefficient

b b :

Backscattering coefficient

c t  − c w :

Particulate attenuation coefficient

Z sd :

Secchi depth

K d :

Vertical diffuse attenuation coefficient

K d (PAR):

Diffuse attenuation coefficient for photosynthetically available radiation

c :

Beam attenuation coefficient

1/(c + K d ):

Length attenuation coefficient

ξ :

Correction factor

Γ :

Coupling coefficient

C 0 :

Inherent contrast of the disk (dimensionless)

C T :

Threshold contrast of the disk (dimensionless)

R 2 :

Correlation coefficient

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Acknowledgments

The present work was supported by the NRB and was carried out by the extensive support of IIT Madras, Chennai-600036. We would like to extend our earnest thanks to D. Rajshekhar, The Head, Vessel Management Cell (VMC) and the Director of National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), for providing the coastal research vessels (SagarPaschimi and SagarPurvi) to IIT Madras for carrying out various underwater light field measurements during the cruises and develop the bio-optical models. We also thank scientists N. Ravi and K. Sashikumar for their timely arrangement of the vessel and the VMC members for their valuable on-board help during the in situ measurements. We sincerely thank two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on our manuscript.

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  1. Ocean Optics and Imaging Laboratory, Department of Ocean Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, 600036, India

    Anuj Kulshreshtha & Palanisamy Shanmugam

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  1. Anuj Kulshreshtha
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Correspondence to Palanisamy Shanmugam.

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Kulshreshtha, A., Shanmugam, P. An optical method to assess water clarity in coastal waters. Environ Monit Assess 187, 742 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-015-4953-0

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