Remote-sensing reflectance is easier to interpret for the open ocean than for coastal regions because the optical signals are highly coupled to the phytoplankton (e.g., chlorophyll) concentrations. For estuarine or coastal waters, variable terrigenous colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM), suspended sediments, and bottom reflectance, all factors that do not covary...
In optically shallow waters, i.e., when the bottom is visible through the water,
a tantalizing variety and level of detail about bottom characteristics are
apparent in aerial imagery (Figure 1a). Some information is relatively easy to
extract from true color, 3-band imagery (e.g., the presence and extent of submerged
vegetation),...