Clear water radiances for atmospheric correction of coastal zone color scanner imagery

The possibility that the inherent sea surface spectral radiance of clear water can be computed in the green, yellow, and red regions of the spectrum solely from a knowledge of the solar zenith angle is developed in detail. This concept is tested with experimental data, and the results indicate that the normalized inherent sea surface spectral radiance is constant to within ~10% for Morel's Case 1 waters as long as the phytoplankton pigment concentration does not exceed 0.25 mg/m(3). In the same conditions the radiance at 670 nm is <0.012 mW/cm(2) microm sr. A scheme to implement this clear water radiance concept for atmospheric correction of CZCS imagery is presented.