In order to characterize the underwater light regime, radiometers are lowered from the working deck of the vessel over a crane arm. The vessel is orientated (according the sun’s position and wave direction) in a way that minimizes influences of the ship’s hull on radiation and wave fields. Still the shadow of the hull compromises the quality and the representability of the radiometric datasets [e.g. Smith, 1974]. This drawback and the draft of the employed vessel Polarstern of about 11 m should be kept in mind when interpreting the results. Other possible effects on the dataset result from ship motions that are transmitted to the tethered sensors. At a specific measurement depth, the displayed depth varies by up to 0.5 m due to these motions. Declinations of the radiometer are recorded but disregarded for the data analysis since the tilt angles are comparably small.
The sensor employed is a RAMSES-ACC-VIS5. It maps downwelling irradiance Ed in the UV and visible spectral range (320 to 950 nm). Integration times for scanning the spectrum elongate with water depth, ranging typically in the upper 50 m of the water column from 8 to 512 ms but nevertheless, the sampling interval is around 2 s. This sampling rate clearly is insufficient to capture high-frequency light flashes and even longer fluctuation periods cannot be registered adequately. The mean value of Ed can be better estimated when sampling over longer times at particular depths. The sensor package is lowered to certain depths with step sizes of 2, 2.5 and 5 m down to a maximum depth of 50 m. At each depth, the sensor measures for 2 min. With sixteen stops, a complete mission can last for 50 min with environmental conditions assumed to be steady.
Figure 11 illustrates exemplary results of our radiometric measurements at high sea without any clouds at the sky. The upper picture shows the theoretically downwelling irradiance as it is measured at the top of atmosphere (TOA). The data originate from the Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment [SORCE, 2002]. The red line shows our measurement of the spectral Ed at sea level. Within the atmosphere solar radiation is partly absorbed (mainly by water vapor) and attenuated due to scattering at air molecules and aerosols. A major part of the radiation of the visible range reaches the sea surface; the corresponding spectral colors are marked at the top. The actual total radiation budget of the oceans (and the global mean) is reviewed by Trenberth et al.
[2009]. Figure 11 (a), (b), and (c) show measured underwater Ed spectra at depths of 2, 10, and 20 m. By collecting 2 min data per depth level (about 80 spectra), we obtain a broader view of the light supply and variance in the water column. The mean spectra are plotted in red, minimum and maximum are denoted by the gray-shaded area to show wavelength-depending ranges of fluctuations. Most intensity is associated with wave-lengths λ between 400 and 575 nm (blue and green range). At every depth the peak of the irradiance spectra is at wavelengths around 480 nm. Near the surface (a), waves cause irradiance maxima that partly exceed the actual insolation at the top of
5 TriOS Optical Sensors: www.trios.de
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atmosphere (wavelength depending). Very often our measurements show so called light flashes in the top layer. That means maximum Ed (λ) values exceed the mean irradiance level by a factor of more than 1.5 [Dera and Stramski, 1986]. We measured light flashes down to 21 m depth (at 490 nm in very clear water). The penetration depth of light strongly depends on the spectral range. In 20 m depth, radiation in the red band is absorbed almost fully, whereas still 50 % of bluish light can be detected. The wavelength 490 nm is highlighted in the figure; that particular wavelength is of special interest in the modeling section of this work.
Figure 11. Measured spectral downwelling irradiances Ed: (a) theoretical insolation at the top of the atmosphere6 (TOA) and measurements of the actual spectral irradiance just above the sea surface, (b) measured underwater spectra at 2 m depth, (c) at 10 m, and (d) at 20 m water depth. The red lines show the mean values at the particular depths, the gray shaded area indicates the range of fluctuations (minimum and maximum). The dashed line is at a wavelength of 490 nm.
The color-bar at the top stands for the corresponding visible colors. Within the blue spectral range light flashes (50 % radiative enhancement) appeared down to 15 m depth at that day (10/30/2009).
6 Data from the Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment SORCE web page:
http://lasp.colorado.edu/source/index.htm
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The following Figure 12 shows Ed depth profiles (of the same day) for the selected wavelength 490 nm and for the integrated range of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). Commonly PAR is designated to the wave band of 400 to 700 nm, that marine phytoplankton is able to use for photosynthesis. This spectral range is almost identical with the range of light visible for the human eye. The crosses in Figure 12 mark the measured data relative to the surface downwelling insolation of 100 %. The squares indicate the averaged values within a horizontal layer of ± 0.3 m depth (that is due to hydrodynamic motions). The data illustrate the enormous variability of light in the upper ocean layer. With higher sampling rates, even more extreme radiative peaks can be detected. For example, Gernez et al. [2011] measured light pulses exceeding 10 times the average irradiance near the surface. Our low frequent data do not include such extreme radiative enhancements, but they prove that even below the 10 m surface layer strong wave-induced light variability does exists.
Figure 12. Measured downwelling irradiance Edas a function of water depth, left: spectrally integrated over the range of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) of 400 to 700 nm, right: downward irradiance at the single wavelength of 489 nm. The square signs show the averaged irradiance value per water depth. The data are normalized to 100 % surface insolation. Data of 10/30/2009.
The averaged Ed values characteristically decrease exponentially within non-stratified waters. The total attenuation coefficient for downwelling irradiance Kd (λ) can be obtained out of these mean values [e.g. Morel et al., 2007]. The coefficient is calculated (from just beneath the surface 0- to a certain depth z) as
. Eq. 6 (6)
The (spectral) diffuse attenuation coefficient is mainly governed by the absorption coefficient a, which adds up the absorption properties of sea water, particles, and dissolved colored matter (yellow substance); but Kd also strictly depends on the particle (chlorophyll) content of the water [Morel, 2009].
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