Abstract
In the solar spectral range, whitecaps are isotropic reflectors with a reflectance of about 55%. So even observation directions outside the sunglint, those often used for remote sensing, are affected by whitecaps. Due to the variation of the area and the reflectance of individual whitecaps with age, the optical effect of the whitecaps taken as the product of thepercentage areacovered with whitecaps and the spectral reflectance of dense foam must be reduced by an efficiency factor of about 0.4. Chlorophyll retrieval algorithms are not significantly affected by whitecaps, if they are based on radi- ance differences. Determination of the atmospheric turbidity using satellite measured radiances from cloud-free pixels over water is successful, but whitecaps are the most perturbing parameter. In the microwave region, the emissivity of whitecaps is higher than the emissivity of the water surface without foam. Therefore, thevariation of measured brightness temperatures which thus results from the alteration in the amount of whitecaps is used to determine the wind speed near the surface.
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Koepke, P. (1986). Remote Sensing Signatures of Whitecaps. In: Monahan, E.C., Niocaill, G.M. (eds) Oceanic Whitecaps. Oceanographic Sciences Library, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4668-2_23
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4668-2_23
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