Depth profiles of Jerlov water types

Abstract

Abstract Typical depth profiles of Jerlov water types have been derived to characterize the clarity of the world's oceans. Measured values of the downwelling diffuse attenuation coefficient, taken from a world‐wide database, were quantitatively analyzed. Depth profiles were extracted from more than 2500 data collection campaigns, consisting of the closest‐matching Jerlov water types at the uppermost layer (0–10 m) and the corresponding Jerlov water types at deeper depth layers down to 200 m. A table of “typical” depth profiles for the 10 Jerlov water types was generated based on the maximum campaign count at each depth layer. This new ocean classification will find use in applications where modeling of typical ocean waters requires the depth‐dependence of clarity to be accounted for.