ABSTRACTS

Oral Session 6 | Wednesday, October 5, 10:20–10:40 | Abstract 592

A Novel Camera System to Measure the In Water Spectral Polarized Upwelling Radiance Distribution

Polarization is a fundamental property of light. Yet, it is less commonly measured than intensity. Various studies have indicated that polarized radiance data could be used to infer novel information about microphysical characteristics of particles in the ocean (Tonizzo et al, 2009; Ibrahim et al, 2012). Additionally, it is critical to have polarization data for both remote sensing algorithm development and satellite data product performance assessments and therefore applicable to the NASA PACE observatory, which will have two multi-angle polarization instruments onboard. However, polarization observational data is lacking. To meet this need, PixPol, an in-water camera system, has been designed and built to measure the Spectral Polarized Upwelling Radiance Distribution. PixPol aims to advance in water polarimetry measurements with its utilization of a unique pixel level polarization structure of its cameras’ sensors. This design eliminates the complexity of multiple images, moving parts, or multiple imagers typically required for retrieval of polarization information. From just one image, PixPol’s cameras are able to independently retrieve the first three stokes vectors, I;Q;U, and their typical products, Degree of Linear Polarization and Angle of Polarization, for a field of view of 70˚ Nadir angle at an angular resolution of 0.2˚. The data collected from PixPol will aid in investigating the distribution of the upwelling spectral polarized radiance in the ocean, exploring the information content in the polarized remote sensing signal, and validating the polarization instruments on PACE.

*E. Riley Blocker, University of Miami, 0000-0003-3278-4527

Kenneth J. Voss, University of Miami