Coastal Benthic Optical Properties (CoBOP)
Inherent Optical Properties (IOP)
in the Benthic Environment

J. Ronald V. Zaneveld, W. Scott Pegau,
and Emanuel Boss

Coastal Benthic Optical Properties (CoBOP) is a 5-year initiative, started in FY-1997, to investigate optical processes associated with the shallow ocean floor. The science objectives of this initiative are:

1. To define and develop the means to measure the inherent optical properties associated with coastal benthic environments.
2. To verify state-of-the art radiative transfer models for optically-shallow water in controlled field tests.
3. To investigate the relationships between measured benthic optical properties and associated biological, chemical and physical processes.

The initiative is field oriented and emphasizes the interaction of light with coral reefs, sea grasses and associated marine sediments. Collaboration is on-going between CoBOP and other research and development programs (within DOD) concerned with remote sensing and underwater imaging.

The goal of this effort is to delineate the small-scale structure of the spectral absorption, scattering, and attenuation coefficients (inherent optical properties, IOP) in the benthic environment and to investigate how these small-scale variations in the IOP are related to substrate, distance above bottom, etc. This work is supported by the Environmental Optics Program of the Office of Naval Research.

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Oregon State University
College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences
Environmental Optics - 1999