Remote Sensing of Particle Cross-Sectional Area in the Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea: Algorithm Development and Application Implications

Suspended particles in waters play an important role in determination of optical properties and ocean color remote sensing. To link suspended particles to their optical properties and thereby remote sensing reflectance (Rrs(λ)), cross-sectional area is a key factor. Till now, there is still a lack of methodologies for derivation of the particle cross-sectional area concentration (AC) from satellite measurements, which consequently limits potential applications of AC. In this study, we investigated the relationship between AC and Rrs(λ) based on field measurements in the Bohai Sea (BS) and Yellow Sea (YS). Our analysis confirmed the strong dependence of Rrs(λ) on AC and that such dependence is stronger than on mass concentration. Subsequently, a remote sensing algorithm that uses the slope of Rrs(λ) between 490 and 555 nm was developed for retrieval of AC from satellite measurements of the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI). In situ evaluations show that the algorithm displays good performance for deriving AC and is robust to uncertainties in Rrs(λ). When the algorithm was applied to satellite data, it performed well, with a coefficient of determination of 0.700, a root mean squared error of 2.126 m−1 and a mean absolute percentage error of 40.7%, and it yielded generally reasonable spatial and temporal distributions of AC in the BS and YS. The satellite-derived AC using our algorithm may offer useful information for modeling the inherent optical properties of suspended particles, deriving the water transparency, estimating the particle composition and possibly improving particle mass concentration estimations in future