Underwater Sensing: Diver Visibility

doi:10.1117/3.1002079.ch3

Book: Ocean Sensing and Monitoring: Optics and Other Methods

Author(s): Weilin Hou

Published: 2013

https://doi.org/10.1117/3.1002079.ch3

Author Affiliations +

Abstract

From the introductory chapter on oceanography, we learned that the volume of the ocean is huge; so huge, in fact, that if you could shovel all of the land’s mass into the ocean, it would not come close to filling it. This chapter delves into the underwater world and examines what and how far we can see underwater, also known as the diver visibility issue. This is mostly only associated with EO systems. However, we will discuss acoustical imaging topics related to visibility in the next chapter when active imaging issues are presented. Other general underwater sampling and monitoring issues are the topics of later chapters, when sampling techniques and platforms are discussed. However, even then, the detailed methods involving chemical and biological sensors are not covered, as this book is biased toward optical sensing techniques.