Colored Dissolved Organic Matter in the Coastal Ocean: An Optical Tool for Coastal Zone Environmental Assessment and Management

Authors

Paula Coble, University of South Florida
Chuanmin Hu, University of South FloridaFollow
Richard W. Gould Jr., Ocean Optics Center, Naval Research Laboratory, Stennis Space Center, MS
Grace Chang, University of California
A. Michelle Wood, University of Oregon

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2015

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2004.47

Abstract

The phrase “deep blue sea” is so common in English usage that all three words are individually synonymous for “ocean.” Poems, song titles, and movies, have used these words to conjure up images that few people have observed firsthand. The real “deep blue sea” can typically be seen only hundreds of miles offshore. The areas of the ocean that most people are able to observe are coastal waters, which are rarely “deep,” and only in the cleanest, clearest regions of the world, such as along the coast of Australia, do these waters appear blue. Soil runoff from rivers, algal blooms, and suspended sediments make coastal waters appear to be black, brown, red, blue, or green.

Rights Information

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Was this content written or created while at USF?

Yes

Citation / Publisher Attribution

Oceanography, v. 17, issue 2, p. 50-59

Scholar Commons Citation

Coble, Paula; Hu, Chuanmin; Gould, Richard W. Jr.; Chang, Grace; and Wood, A. Michelle, "Colored Dissolved Organic Matter in the Coastal Ocean: An Optical Tool for Coastal Zone Environmental Assessment and Management" (2015). Marine Science Faculty Publications. 1899.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/msc_facpub/1899