Biogeosciences www.biogeosciences.net 1726-4170 1726-4189 6 3 2009 10.5194/bg-6-487-2009 http://www.biogeosciences.net/6/487/2009/ http://www.biogeosciences.net/6/487/2009/bg-6-487-2009.html http://www.biogeosciences.net/6/487/2009/bg-6-487-2009.pdf 487 500 2009-03-31 Optics and remote sensing of Bahamian carbonate sediment whitings and potential relationship to wind-driven Langmuir circulation H. M. Dierssen heidi.dierssen@uconn.edu R. C. Zimmerman D. J. Burdige Department of Marine Sciences and Geography, Univ. of Connecticut, 1080 Shennecossett Road, Groton, CT 06340, USA Department of Ocean, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, Old Dominion Univ., 4600 Elkhorn Ave., Norfolk, VA 23529, USA Regions of milky white seas or "whitings" periodically occur to the west of Andros Island along the Great Bahama Bank where the bottom sediment consists of fine-grained aragonite mud. We present measurements of inherent optical properties within a sediment whiting patch and discuss the potential for monitoring the frequency, extent, and quantity of suspended matter from ocean colour satellite imagery. Sea spectral reflectance measured in situ and remotely from space revealed highly reflective waters elevated across the visible spectrum (i.e., "whitened") with a peak at 490 nm. Particulate backscattering was an order of magnitude higher than that measured at other stations throughout the region. The whiting also had one of the highest backscattering ratios measured in natural waters (0.05–0.06) consistent with water dominated by aragonite particles with a high index of refraction. Regular periodicity of 40 and 212 s evident in the light attenuation coefficient over the sampling period indicated patches of fluctuating turbidity on spatial scales that could be produced from regular rows of Langmuir cells penetrating the 5-m water column. 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