"Light plays an important role in many ocean physical, biological, and chemical processes -- e.g., as an energy source in the upper ocean heat budget, as a driving force in surface mixed layer dynamics, and as the primary energy source driving primary production and marine photochemical reactions.... Within the past 20 years or so, interest in ocean optics has increased, fueled largely by advances in our ability to remotely sense global ocean color from space." [S. G. Ackleson, of the Environmental Optics Program of the Office of Naval Research; Journal Geophysical Research 100(C7), 13,133 (1995).]

Ocean optics is especially fascinating because it links together the physics of radiation transfer with the biology of the ocean. There is a strong coupling between the two fields -- the absorption and scattering properties that govern how much and how deep radiation diffuses through seawater depend on the type and concentration of the biological constituents present (which are primarily phytoplankton cells in the open ocean). The constituents, in turn, depend on the amount of radiation present to sustain life, and the radiation is tied to the earth's natural cycles, with radiation intensities changing by a few orders of magnitude within hours.

Since photosynthesis by marine plants is possibly responsible for up to half of the global carbon fixation (within a large uncertainty), light transport within the sea is of fundamental importance to the long-term future of the Earth.

While many research articles focus primarily on the physics aspects of radiative transfer, and other articles are directed at the biological aspects, there are several references of general interest that help unify the field, including:

Mobley, C. D. (1994). LIGHT AND WATER: Radiative Transfer in Natural Waters, Academic Press.

Kirk, J. T. O. (1994). LIGHT & PHOTOSYNTHESIS IN AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS, 2nd ed., Cambridge University Press.

Spinrad, R. W., K. L. Carder, and M. J. Perry (1994). OCEAN OPTICS, Oxford University Press.

Shifrin, K. S. (1988). PHYSICAL OPTICS OF OCEAN WATER, American Institute of Physics.

Collections of ocean optics research papers also are available in the following journal special issues:

"Hydrologic Optics" (Spinrad, R. W., guest editor), in Limnology and Oceanography 34(8), December 1989.

"Advances in Ocean Optics: Issues of Closure" (Ackleson, S. G., guest editor), in Journal of Geophysical Research 100(C7), July 15, 1995.

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