Optical Constituents Along a River Mouth and Inlet: Variability and Signature in Remotely Sensed Reflectance

Long-term Goals: The goal of our research is to improve our ability to assess and predict the distribution of water column optical properties in the coastal region. Objectives: Our research in the New River Tidal Inlet had three primary objectives: 1. Measure the variability of optical properties in-space along a river mouth/inlet and observe the variability in time at a single position over a tidal cycle; 2. Relate this variability to the concentration and dynamics of dissolved and particulate materials, including variability in the particle size distribution; 3. Relate the optical properties to the ocean reflectance, so algorithms to invert surface color to in-water constituents can be tested and improved.