What color is the sea?
(12/26/17) What color is the ocean? I would have a hard time answering because there are so many shades I couldn’t pick just one. I took the picture of the sailboat because of the number of people on the side of the boat. I had no idea it would show the different shades of blue found in the sea.
When the water in the ocean appears very dark navy blue that is because it is very deep and there are no light reflections off the sea floor. The reason the ocean is blue is due to the absorption and scattering of light. When sunlight hits the ocean, some of the light is reflected but red, orange, yellow and green wavelengths of light are absorbed more easily than blue. The remaining blue and violet wavelengths make the ocean appear as shades of blue. Particles suspended in the water will also affect the scattering of light and absorption of certain wavelengths of light.
Joy
6 thoughts on “What color is the sea?”
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Water color aside, that’s a lot of sail on that baby!
Somehow I knew that the sail would not go un-noticed by you. It was fun to watch the race but we had to scoot through so as not to disturb them.
Great explanation of why we see different colors in the sea.
Beautiful picture and love your explanation of the colors.
Sometimes I wish I had paid more attention in science class!
Hi