Scheme to estimate water-leaving albedo from remotely sensed chlorophyll-a concentration

Abstract

Water-leaving albedo (αw(λ)) is an important component of the ocean surface albedo and is conventionally estimated based on remotely sensed chlorophyll-a concentration (Chl) (termed Chl-αw). We show that estimated αw(λ) by Chl-αw could be significantly biased in global oceans, because there is no guarantee of closure between the modeled remote sensing reflectance (Rrs(λ)) from Chl-inferred inherent optical properties (IOPs) and the input Rrs(λ) that is used to derive Chl. We thus propose a simple and improved scheme, termed Chl-αw_new, and show that the step to infer IOPs from Chl is not necessary, where αw(λ) can be accurately estimated from satellite-measured Rrs(λ) and a Chl-based look-up-table (LUT) for the bidirectional relationships of angular Rrs(λ). Evaluations with both HydroLight simulations and satellite measurements show that Chl-αw_new is equivalent to the recently developed αw scheme based on IOPs (IOPs-αw, [Remote Sens. Environ. 269, 112807]), where both schemes could significantly improve the estimation of αw(λ) compared to Chl-αw. Comparisons among Chl-αw, Chl-αw_new, and IOPs-αw highlight that optical closure of Rrs(λ) is essential for accurate remote sensing of αw(λ), while the model for Rrs(λ) bidirectionality has rather minor impacts. The impact of improved αw(λ) estimations on the solar flux exchanges at the air-sea interface is preliminarily evaluated in this effort, where the use of Chl-αw_new could increase the estimation of reflected solar radiation by over 68.7% in turbid waters compared to that using Chl-αw, highlighting the necessity of incorporating accurate αw schemes into the coupled ocean-atmosphere models, especially for regional models in coastal oceans.