| Reflection of sunlight from a wavy water surface, often referred to as "sunglint", is a well-known phenomenon that presents challenges, but also hitherto untapped opportunities in remote sensing based on satellite imagery.;The work presented in this thesis is divided in two main parts. The first one summarizes the effort spent in perfecting existing algorithms for the retrieval of atmospheric and oceanic constituents in sunglint regions. In particular, we present the results of simulations of sunglint radiances at the top of the atmosphere, performed with an accurate radiative transfer code which rigorously accounts for effects, so far neglected in NASA retrieval algorithms, such as multiple scattering, shadowing and multiple reflections.;Despite being extensively investigated in the open ocean, sunglint lacks a fundamental characterization obtained under controlled laboratory conditions. The second part of the thesis describes the attempt, first of its kind, to a systematic approach to observation. More precisely, it presents a novel experimental apparatus suitable for time-resolved measurements of light reflection in a wave-tank environment, where wave states and conditions can be carefully controlled. The system enables the investigation of the significant variables on which sunglint depends, and can help establish a link between the evanescent "atomic glints" from a single wave facet and the familiar sunglint pattern obtained by time-averaging over a surface area containing many facets. A special emphasis is placed on the detection of the polarization components. |
