Oceanologia (Dec 2006)
Modelling the light absorption properties of particulate matter forming organic particles suspended in sea water. Part 3. Practical applications
Abstract
This paper brings to a close our cycle of articles on modelling the light absorption properties of particulate organic matter (POM) in the sea. In the first two parts of this cycle (Woźniaket al. 2005a,b) we discussed these properties with reference to various model chemical classes and physical types of POM. We have put these results into practice in the present third part. As a result of the appropriate theoretical speculations, logically underpinned by empirical knowledge, we selected 25 morphological variants of marine organic detritus, to which we ascribed definite chemical compositions and physical types. On this basis and using known spectra of the mass-specific coefficients of light absorption by various naturally occurring organic substances (systematised in Parts 1 and 2), we determined the absorption properties of these 25 morphological groups of particles, that is, the spectra of the imaginary part of the refractive index n'p(λ) (in the 200-700 nm range) of the particulate matter. They can be applied, with the aid of Mie's or some other similar theory, to calculate the bulk optical properties (absorbing and scattering) of such sets of particles in the sea.
