Spectral properties of natural and oil polluted Baltic seawater — results of measurements and modelling

• Published in: The European physical journal. ST, Special topics Vol. 222; no. 9; pp. 2157 - 2170
• Main Authors: Drozdowska, V., Freda, W., Baszanowska, E., Rudź, K., Darecki, M., Heldt, J. R., Toczek, H.
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.10.2013; EDP Sciences
• Subjects: Analysis methods; Applied sciences; Atomic; Classical and Continuum Physics; Condensed Matter Physics; Exact sciences and technology; Materials Science; Measurement Science and Instrumentation; Molecular; Natural water pollution; Optical and Plasma Physics; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Pollution; Review; Water treatment and pollution; Baltic Sea; Radiative Transfer; Droplet Size Distribution; Chromophoric Dissolve Organic Matter; European Physical Journal Special Topic; Complex Refractive Index; Monte Carlo method; Pollution; Data processing; Radiative transfer; Measurement method; Modeling; Fluorescence spectrometry; Seawater
• ISSN: 1951-6355; 1951-6401
• DOI: 10.1140/epjst/e2013-01992-x

Seawater in addition to natural components such as living and non-living organic matter contains also components artificially introduced into the marine environment, such as oil substances. These components, present in the surface layer of the sea, can significantly affect radiative transfer processes. Therefore, taking into account these processes in remote sensing measurements can improve assessment of the environment. To improve local seawater optical models, it is necessary to measure the luminescence properties of all components of seawater as well as the water leaving radiance values. Additionally, substances which form the surface microlayer (surfactants — surface active agents) can affect both the dynamic characteristics of the fluxes (in particular the gas exchange and marine aerosol production) as well as inherent optical properties of surface seawater. This paper contains both the results of research focused on introducing of an efficient method for identifying oils by their fluorescence spectra as well as a marine experiment on the identification of luminescent properties of surfactants — sampled in different regions of the Baltic Sea. Moreover, the aim of the presented study is to assess the impact of the oil emulsion to spectral water leaving signal. Those results are obtained both from running Monte Carlo radiative transfer code and from approximated formulas.