| Abstract: | Self-shading error of in-water optical measurements has been experimentally estimated for upwelling radiance and irradiance measurements taken just below the water surface. Radiance and irradiance data have been collected with fiber optics that terminated with 1°, 18°, and 2π optics housed in the center of a disk that simulated the size of the instrument. Analysis of measurements taken at 500, 600, and 640 nm in lake waters have shown errors ranging from a few percent up to several tens of percent as a function of the size of the radiometer, the absorption coefficient of the medium, the Sun zenith, and the atmospheric turbidity. Comparisons between experimental and theoretical errors, the latter computed according to a scheme suggested by other authors, have shown absolute differences generally lower than 5% for radiances and lower than 3% for irradiances. Analysis of radiance measurements taken with 1° and 18° fields of view have not shown appreciable differences in the self-shading error. This finding suggests that correction schemes for self-shading error developed for narrow-field-of-view radiance measurements could also be applied to measurements taken with relatively larger fields of view. |
