Abstract

Two algorithms are compared for estimating the spatial dependence of bioluminescence using in situ measurements of the irradiance and scalar irradiance. The conservation algorithm is based on the conservation principle of radiative transfer, but it requires a separate estimation of the difficult-to-measure absorption coefficient; the two-stream algorithm incorporates additional equations to estimate the absorption coefficient and the albedo of single scattering. The algorithms have been numerically tested with fluctuations in measurements simulated with a random sampling approach. The effectiveness of the algorithms depends upon the strength of the bioluminescent source compared to the background seasurface illumination and other factors.

© 1991 Optical Society of America