My interest is in understanding the interaction of sunlight with seawater. A major focus of my research has been the development of optical applications for studying the biogeochemistry of oceanic and coastal environments. Natural seawater contains a wide variety of materials, such as various dissolved chemical compounds, planktonic microorganisms, and mineral particles. Each of these materials absorb and scatter light in characteristic ways, and thus variability in seawater optical properties contains information on the types and concentrations of materials present in the water. Optical techniques are suitable for monitoring and studying these variations remotely, using instruments mounted on platforms such as moorings or satellites.

The approach utilized in our lab includes field measurements of ocean optical properties in conjunction with biogeochemical data, laboratory studies on absorption and scattering of light by various seawater constituents, and radiative transfer modeling to estimate relationships between these constituents and ocean color.