Oceanography
THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE OCEANOGRAPHY SOCIETY

CITATION
Schollaert Uz, S. 2016. Building intuition for in-water optics and ocean color remotesensing: Spectrophotometer activity with littleBits™. Oceanography 29(1):98–103,
http://dx.doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2016.01.
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2016.01
COPYRIGHT
This article has been published in Oceanography, Volume 29, Number 1, a quarterly
journal of The Oceanography Society. Copyright 2016 by The Oceanography Society.
All rights reserved.
USAGE
Permission is granted to copy this article for use in teaching and research.
Republication, systematic reproduction, or collective redistribution of any portion ofthis article by photocopy machine, reposting, or other means is permitted only with theapproval of The Oceanography Society. Send all correspondence to: info@tos.org or
The Oceanography Society, PO Box 1931, Rockville, MD 20849-1931, USA.

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HANDS-ON OCEANOGRAPHY

Building Intuition for In-Water Optics
and Ocean Color Remote Sensing
Spectrophotometer Activity with littleBits™
By Stephanie Schollaert Uz

PURPOSE OF ACTIVITY
This activity demonstrates optical properties of water: that different constituents in water affect the transmission, absorption, and scattering of different colors in the visible light spectrum. Inexpensive, off-the-shelf components are used to build
a light sensor and source, creating a simple spectrophotometer that can measure light absorption. In the second part of thisactivity, principles of ocean color remote sensing are applied tomeasure reflectance. Using components that are clearly visible
allows students to configure them in different ways. Playing with
the instrument design gives students a practical understandingof spectrophotometers, in-water optics, and remote sensing.
Students are encouraged to think about how ocean color is used
to estimate the concentration of chlorophyll, colored dissolved
organic matter, and suspended sediments.
AUDIENCE
This activity includes two parts. The first one builds intuition
about in-water optics as a basic demonstration of spectrophotometry. It is suitable for everyone and is especially recommended for graduate- and undergraduate-level students, especially science and engineering students. It has been tested in
education settings ranging from formal graduate level courses
and K–12 science teacher professional development to informal
outreach events attended by families. With appropriate instructional scaffolding, it can engage K–12 students as well. The second part of the activity includes several extensions to demonstrate how satellites measure optical properties of water for moreadvanced audiences with an interest in ocean color remote sensing or engineering of optical instruments.
BACKGROUND
What Color is the Ocean?
Our perception of color depends on the relative intensity oflight reflected at different wavelengths. The qualities of the lightilluminating the water, light absorption by the water itself, andlight scattering and absorption by water and the constituents in
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the water all affect how the water looks. That is why very cleanwater can look deep blue and why water with an abundance of
microscopic plants called phytoplankton can appear very green.
In coastal and inland waters, dissolved organic matter such asthat produced by decaying leaves can color the water brown.
Beyond describing it, scientists quantify color by measuring
light intensity at different wavelengths and creating a spectrum.
The instrument that does that is called a spectrophotometer.
Differences in the shape of the spectrum can be used to determine what is in the water, such as how much of the green plant
pigment chlorophyll is present.

Why Does the Color of the Ocean Matter?
The capability to detect what is in the ocean has a broad range
of applications for society at large and for addressing climate
science questions. Phytoplankton form the base of the marine
food web, and major fisheries around the world are located inwater with high chlorophyll concentrations. Optical measurements of coastal waters are used to monitor and regulate water
quality (e.g., runoff, sewage leaks), preserve estuarine ecosystems that protect coastal communities from erosion andstorm surge, and identify oxygen minimum zones (a.k.a. deadzones) and harmful algal blooms that can negatively impact
fisheries. Globally, phytoplankton play a key role in the carbon cycle; thus, monitoring their abundance and changes overtime with the broad coverage enabled by satellites is crucial for
quantifying that role.
How Do We Measure the Color of Water?
Here, light transmission at different wavelengths (red, green,blue) is measured through samples of colored water. Clear water
is used as the control to characterize the light source and normalize the other samples, blue water represents open-ocean
areas with very little productivity (e.g., subtropical gyres), green
water represents productive water where phytoplankton areblooming, and water with tea in it represents coastal or estuarine
water with dissolved organic material (such as that leached from

FIGURE 1. The spectrophotometer base is made of Legos® with a gap for the LED light to easily slide in and out.

decaying leaves and soil). The spectrum for each sample demonstrates that the most light transmitted through a medium corresponds most closely to the color of its constituents; the othercolors are preferentially absorbed. In other words, blue watertransmits the most blue light and absorbs green and red light. A
laboratory spectrophotometer is much more sensitive than the
one created in this activity and allows measurement at precisely
controlled wavelengths (i.e., colors across the entire visible spectrum with tight spectral resolution). However, its optical hardware is hidden and may seem like a black box, whereas all of
the littleBits™ components are out in the open here. While a lab
spectrophotometer is essential for obtaining accurate scientificmeasurements, the focus of this activity is not on accuracy but
on encouraging students to play with different configurations of
the instrument to build intuition about how light is transmitted
and absorbed in the world ocean.

How Does This Activity Relate To Satellite Ocean
Color Measurements?
Satellites measure backscattered and reflected light from theocean to derive the concentration of chlorophyll in phytoplankton and other constituents in water. In the second part of theactivity, the source-and-sensor configuration is changed to
mimic remote sensing. Milk is added to the water samples toincrease backscattering. The clear water with milk added is usedas the control to characterize the light source, backscattering,and reflectance of the water and other materials (e.g., shiny container), and to normalize the colored water samples. Analogies
and differences from ocean color remote sensing are explored.

MATERIALS• littleBits™ components or their equivalents:- 2x battery + cable (http://littlebits.cc/accessories/
battery-plus-cable)- 2x power bit (http://littlebits.cc/bits/littlebits-power)- 3x rgb LED (http://littlebits.cc/bits/rgb-led)- 3x wire (http://littlebits.cc/bits/wire-bit)- 1x light sensor (http://littlebits.cc/bits/light-sensor)- 1x number output (http://littlebits.cc/bits/number-plus)• Two batteries• Four square, clear containers of clean tap water• Blue food dye• Green food dye• Cooled tea (e.g., black tea made with a tea bag or strained toremove tea leaves)• Calculator to divide colored sample values by the clear sample
values• Black cloth to cover water sample being analyzed and minimize ambient light during measurements• A black base into which the square water containers fit.
Secure the LED light on one side of the base and the light sensor directly across (Figure 1). Note: A simple Lego® structureis used here. A more durable structure could include littleBits™
brick adapter Lego® connections that attach the light and sensor
more securely and stay in place while the different water samples are being placed in the holder.

Oceanography | March 201699

PART I: SPECTROPHOTOMETER ACTIVITY
Instructor Pre-setup• Tune one LED light to red (tune up r with the littleBits™ screwdriver, tune down g and b), tune one LED to green (tune up g,tune down r and b), and tune one LED to blue.
• Test the sensitivity of the lights and sensor by securing thelight sensor on one side of the black base and the LED lightsource directly across on the other side.
• Make sure the LED light is not too bright. Adjust the three lightsources and/or the sensitivity of the detector so that the lightsources put out distinct colors and read up to 98 when transmitted through clear water. Green values filled in on the example
shown for Data Table 1 (online Supplemental Materials) are low
but adequate. Keep the same settings for the entire experiment.
Student Setup and Investigation• Build a light sensor with battery + power + orange wire +sensor + number display.
• Put together a light circuit with power + bright LED.
• Attach the light sensor to one side of the black base and put
the LED light source on the other.
• Use four containers of water (Figure 2). Keep one clear. Put
one drop of blue food dye in one, one drop of green food dyein another, and some tea (no leaves) in the last. Mix well.
• Put the clear sample into the base and turn on the first LED
light and make sure the sensor value increases (Figure 3).
If not, dim any overhead lights in the room or cover the

FIGURE 2. Water samples in straightsided containers (i.e., not curved).

FIGURE 3. Blue LED through clear
water, light sensor reading 97.

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spectrophotometer and water sample with a black cloth tominimize background light.
• Record the LED value in Data Table 1 (online Supplemental
Materials) for clear water and the corresponding light color(blue, green, or red). Note: These values are only used to normalize the colored water samples so do not place much importance on them or how they compare to each other, but do ensure
they are less than 99, as tuned prior to having students conduct
the experiment.
• Note: Shining the LED light directly across the water sample
to the light sensor in the exact same location for all samples isessential for consistency and meaningful results.
• Replace the clear water sample with the blue, then green,
then tea samples.
• Place each water sample into the holder and shine the different colored lights through them.
• Record all LED values in Data Table 1 (online Supplemental
Materials) for the corresponding light color and water
sample color.
• Investigate different colored water samples and how the visible light spectrum varies for each.
• Divide each value by the clear water value for that colored
light and multiply it by 100 to get the percentage of lighttransmitted. Record percentage in Data Table 2 (online
Supplemental Materials).
• Plot the three water samples on Graph 1 (online Supplemental
Materials): the color of light versus the light transmitted (%).

• Draw a line between the three colors of light for each sample
to get the spectrum of that water sample.
• Note the differences between the three water samples tested.

Results
The color of the water affects how much light is transmitted orabsorbed. Help students notice that the color of light closest to
the color of the water has the greatest percentage of light transmitted and other colors of light are absorbed more. Shine red,green, and blue lights through the blue water sample and noticethat the blue light is transmitted most while red and green lightare absorbed more. A spectrum is a range of electromagnetic
waves in order of wavelength. In the visible light spectrum, redlight has the longest wavelength and blue/violet light has theshortest wavelengths. The blue water spectrum has the greatest
percentage of light transmitted through it at the blue wavelength;
the green water spectrum peaks at green light; the tea water spectrum peaks at red light. These are called spectral signatures.
Extension Questions• Is water in nature ever colored like this and what could causeit? Have you ever seen blue water, perhaps if you’ve been to
Florida or the Caribbean?
• What do you see when the light shines through the water
samples?
• Does the colored light look different depending upon what
color water it shines through?

• How sensitive are the results to the distance between the sample and the sensor?
• What happens if a lens is placed in front of the light source tomake the light beam more parallel? What if laser pointers areused as the light source?

Real-World Examples
Water that receives abundant sunlight but contains a scarcity ofnutrients tends to be blue because the nutrients have been usedup (e.g., Figure 4, left). Nutrients that fertilize phytoplankton
blooms reach ocean surface waters through river runoff, windblown minerals or dust, and upwelling from the deep ocean
where there is no sunlight. These processes cause phytoplankton blooms or green water (e.g., Figure 4, right). In addition to
nutrients, runoff from land contains colored dissolved organic
matter, including tannins derived from dead leaves that makethe water look tan or brown.
Optical sensors on ocean color satellites collect information
about how Earth looks at different wavelengths of light. Suchspectral signatures yield useful information, such as where phytoplankton are located in the world ocean (e.g., Figure 5) andhow their abundance changes over time. Transmission, absorption, and scattering of light through water or the atmosphere areused to analyze data collected by satellites. Ocean color satellite
sensors measure reflected light, not light that is transmitted all
the way across the water sample as a spectrophotometer does.

FIGURE 4. Mediterranean water (left) lacks nutrients andlooks blue while the productive Black Sea (right) is green.

FIGURE 5. SeaWiFS satellite image showing
the Mediterranean and the Black Seas, where
the Figure 4 underwater photographs weretaken. Notice the green and brown swirls
caused by phytoplankton in the Black Sea.

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PART II: OCEAN COLOR REMOTE SENSING ACTIVITY
The second part of this lab simulates ocean color remote sensing
with both source and detector on the same side of the container,
first by demonstrating how little light is detected when there isno backscattering, then adding paper behind the container toincrease reflection, and finally by performing the activity withthe addition of a scattering medium.
Additional Materials• White piece of paper• MilkStudent Setup and Investigation• Position the light sensor and LED light source on the sameside of the black base and make the same measurements as
before (Figure 6). Are there differences among the measurements for the different colored samples?
• Next, put a white piece of paper behind the container, acrossfrom the light and the detector. Does this increase the difference between the water samples and different colors of light?
Obviously, this method would not work when measuring theocean from satellites.
• How do satellites measure reflectance from the ocean?
Satellite sensors rely on things like particles in the ocean toscatter and reflect the light back toward space.
• Add one teaspoon of milk to the water in each of the four containers so that one has milk, one has milk + blue, one has milk
+ green, and one has milk + tea. Mix well.

• Measure the values for all four water samples using the threedifferent colored lights, as before, and record in Data Table 3(online Supplemental Materials).
• Divide each measured value by the milk-only value forthat colored light and multiply it by 100 to get the percentage of reflected light that was not absorbed by the pigments. Record the percentage in Data Table 4 (online
Supplemental Materials).
• Plot the three water samples on Graph 2 (online Supplemental
Materials): the color of light versus the light reflected (%).
• Plot the spectrum for each water sample.
• Note the differences between the three milky colored water
samples tested. Compare these spectra to the graph fromPart I of the spectra of light transmitted through the plain
colored water samples.

Results
With the light detector and the source positioned on the sameside of the container, the amount of light reflected or absorbedby the water depends largely upon backscattering by small particles in the water. In this experiment, backscattering is introduced by adding milk. Clear water with only milk added serves
as the control and accounts for backscattering from the waterand the container. Water with milk plus colors represents ocean
water that contains phytoplankton and other constituents.
Satellite measurements cannot normalize with an unpigmented
sample at each location, so their algorithms for estimating chlorophyll often use band ratios to normalize the spectrum with a

FIGURE 6. LED light source and sensor placed side by side in the base. Milk is added to the water toincrease backscattering.

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green wavelength where chlorophyll absorption is weakest. In
situ sampling is limited by the size of the ocean and the expenseof ship time, but measuring the transmission and absorption oflight through ocean water samples is important for calibrating
satellite measurements. In these activities, the main point is toshow students that the color spectrum of the reflected light islargely determined by the spectrum of the pigments in the water.
Also note that reflectance measurements are more complicatedthan absorption and transmission measurements: the measured
light level is smaller, making it more sensitive to artifacts such as
variations in the amount of milk and ambient light.

Extension Questions• One complication in this experiment is the reflection off ofthe container, which is analogous to the sun glint problem inocean color remote sensing. One possible solution to the glint
problem is to wipe the front side of the container with acetone
to make it less shiny. Note that rubbing with acetone will givethe side a permanently frosted sheen.
• The distance that light travels from the ocean to the satellite isimmense compared to that in this lab (e.g., 700 km for the satellite and at least seven orders of magnitude less for this activity). What do you think is the biggest complication added toocean color remote sensing by the extreme distance? (Hint:
Subtracting the intervening atmosphere, which accounts forabout 90% of the signal received by the satellite sensor.)
Precautions
If you get unexpected results that are wildly different from theexample at the end, there are a few possible reasons:• Is too much ambient light reaching the sensor?
First ensure that the sensor is facing toward the water sample
and not away from it. Ideally, the only light seen by the sensor
should be coming from the colored source after it has passed
through the water sample. If too much light from the room
is reaching the sensor, you are mostly measuring the ambient
light instead of what passes through the sample. Try dimming
the room, shielding the experiment with a piece of cardboard,or draping something dark behind or around the experiment.
When you turn off the light source, the sensor should show asmall number.
• Are your water samples colored too light or too dark?
If your sample is too diluted, the differences in how it absorbs
different color lights will be very small. If the sample is too
dark, very little light will make it across to the sensor. In either
case, you would need a more sensitive instrument to reliably
measure the differences.
• Did you tune the LED light sources too far down in order to geta reading of less than 99 with clear water?
If your red light reads 99 with clear water, you can make that
number smaller by turning down the r setting on that LED
bit. Notice that if you turn down the r too much, the color

might look washed out (pink instead of a deep red). That is
because the other two color sources (g and b) do not really godown to zero even when turned all the way down, and if r is
not turned up to a high enough value, they can compete andproduce pink instead of red. Turn up r until the light looks
as red as possible, then adjust the sensor sensitivity to get thevalue below 99.
• Did you adjust the light sources or the sensor sensitivity partway through the experiment?
You are comparing the light levels measured with different
color sources through different water samples. It is important that all of your data be measured with the same instrument settings. If you need to change any setting during theexperiment, redo all of your measurements, including thosewith clear water.
SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALSThe online supplemental materials are available online at http://dx.doi.org/10.5670/
oceanog.2016.01 and include:• Data Tables 1–4 and Graphs 1–2• Examples of how data tables and graphs might look

ADDITIONAL ONLINE RESOURCES• What color is the ocean—and why do you need a satellite to tell you?
http://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/SeaWiFS/TEACHERS/sanctuary_3.html• Optical properties of water
http://misclab.umeoce.maine.edu/boss/classes/RT_Weizmann/Chapter3.pdf
http://misclab.umeoce.maine.edu/documents/BossOPN.pdf• Ocean Optics Web Book
http://oceanopticsbook.info

REFERENCE
Mobley, C.D. 1994. Light and Water: Radiative Transfer in Natural Waters.
Academic Press, San Diego, 592 pp.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Ocean color satellite images provided by the NASA Ocean Biology Processing
Group and a desire to explain how they are derived motivated this work. MeteUz supported this effort by taking photos, trouble-shooting electronics, and discussing ideas. This hands-on activity grew from a littleBits™ activity to measure theatmosphere developed by Ginger Butcher (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center).
Suggestions by Emmanuel Boss and an anonymous reviewer led to the expansionof this activity into the second part. Much appreciated assistance was provided byhigh school and college students, museum educators, teachers, and colleagues as
this activity was tested and refined.

AUTHOR
Stephanie Schollaert Uz (stephanie.uz@nasa.gov), Senior Support Scientist, Global
Science & Technology Inc., works with the new ocean color satellite mission, PACE,
and the Earth Science Division at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,
MD, USA.

ARTICLE CITATION
Schollaert Uz, S. 2016. Building intuition for in-water optics and ocean color remotesensing: Spectrophotometer activity with littleBits™. Oceanography 29(1):98–103,
http://dx.doi.org/​10.5670/oceanog.2016.01.

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