| Summary: | Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2013 Inverse algorithms are developed to retrieve hyperspectral absorption and backscattering coefficients from measurements of hyperspectral upwelling radiance and downwelling irradiance in vertically homogeneous waters. The first inversion algorithm solves the radiative transfer equation using a simplified phase function to produce estimates of the ratio of the backscattering to absorption coefficients at depths where the light field is in the asymptotic regime. These estimates can be used as a starting point in the second implicit inversion algorithm, where the azimuthally-averaged radiative transfer equation is repeatedly evaluated using the Ecolight radiative transfer model, varying absorption and backscattering coefficients until modeled radiance and irradiance spectra match measurements within a specified criterion. Although this inversion problem is ambiguous for the retrieval of total scattering coefficients, unique and stable solutions can be found for absorption and backscattering coefficients when the inversion is constrained using the attenuation coefficient at one wavelength. A comprehensive error budget for absorption and backscattering estimates details the contributions from forward model parameter error, random and systematic radiometric error, and inversion noise. Both algorithms are tested using simulated light fields from a chlorophyll-based case I bio-optical model and radiometric field data. The second algorithm is then applied to a 51 day record of hyperspectral radiometric measurements to measure the evolution of phytoplankton community structure during the North Atlantic spring bloom continuously over 51 days from a Lagrangian float. The retrieved absorption spectra are of sufficient accuracy, bandwidth, and resolution to estimate bio-optical signatures of phytoplankton community structure including overall biomass, the fraction of small phytoplankton, and the absorption due to colored detrital material. Size fraction estimates based on the ...
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