Quote:
Originally Posted by Decoman
I wish I knew more about how they colored the North Atlantic.
Without being an expert, I suppose its a bit greenish, and then the ocean would be colored abit different at various places, depending on it being in the Atlantic Ocean or in the Mediterranean Sea.
Any experts here who know more about this?
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Sea colour depends on a large variety of factors, that all combine to give you a couple of colours. The light will be scattered by the water and will also be absorbed by whatever micro-organisms are in the water. How much light enters the water is determined by the angle of the sun and also clouds. On overcast days, much less light penetrates into the sea and it does not have as much of an inner glow from light reflecting off the organisms. The angle of the sun depends on the time of day and also how far north/south you are and the season. The more directly overhead the sun is, the more light goes into the sea, as it approaches the horizon, most of the light is reflected off the sea surface and doesn't enter the water (pretty sunset). The mirco-organisms vary depending on the conditions of the sea, e.g. the pacific has different things in it that the atlantic has, each organism will reflect a different colour of light. Ones in the atlantic reflect brownish light and the ones in the pacific reflect blueish light which is why seas are different colours. Also, there is silt disturbance as well, which also depends on the depth of the water. In shallow muddy atlantic waters, storms churn up the silt and make the sea an opaque brown, with hardly any light penetrating into it, so it makes the sea look quite cold as there is no inner glow of light reflected from within the water itself.