Impact of Seawater Absorptivity on Electromagnetic Wave Scattering by Particles

Using a modified Mie expression, the study examines the impact of particle size and the refractive index ratio between particles and seawater on its scattering and absorption efficiencies. We find neglecting seawater absorptivity can lead to an overestimation of particle scattering efficiency and an underestimation of its absorption efficiency. The deviations exponentially increase with particle size but decrease with incident wave wavelength. In addition, the refractive index ratio between particles and seawater notably affects the scattering and absorption efficiencies of particles, and the ratio of the real parts and imaginary parts of their refractive index significantly impacts the scattering characteristics of particles, with differences even reaching orders of magnitude.