A preliminary study of spectral light attenuation and the absorption coefficient of colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) in the coastal water of Kuala Terengganu

Abstract

This study was conducted in order to estimate and characterize the CDOM in the coastal water of Kuala Terengganu based on the understanding of light properties. This study dealth with the basic concept of remote sensing that can help in developing the remote sensing algorithms for seawater constituent estimation. Sampling was carried out at 24 rd stations on 23 th October 2007 to 27 October 2007. In this study, AOP radiometric parameters such as upwelling i1rndiance and diffuse attenuation coefficient (Kd) were measured during field measurements. The highest CDOM absorption was found at nearshore stations and the lowest CDOM absorption at offshore station is ranged between 1 0.00 I 6m- to 0.64m- 1 • Results demonstrated that CDOM cannot be estimated accurately using the Kd. All wavelengths were found to have poor relationship with CDOM. The highest polynomial regression coefficient (R 2 ) was only 0.65 at wavelength 650nm. The results demonstrated the difficulty in estimating the CDOM concentration using the optical properties at the coastal water of Kuala Terengganu.