Reno~abh, Energy Vol. 1, No. 1. pp. 31-35, 1991 0960-1481/91 $3.00+.

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Printed in Great Britain. Pergamon Press plc

SOLAR S P E C T R U M AT D E P T H IN W A T E R

J. A. MUADDI a n d M. A. JAMAL
Department of Physics, College of Science, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain,
P.O. Box 15551, United Arab Emirates

(Received 24 January 1990 ; accepted 8 March 1990)

Abstract--In pure water, the solar spectrum at various depths from l cm to 200 m has been reconstructed.
The reconstruction was performed via a computer program. Two sets of data were adopted in this work :
the extinction coefficient of pure water in the wavelength range of 300 2500 nm and the solar spectrum at
sea level in the same wavelength range.

1. INTRODUCTION by an integral of the following form [7] :

The utilization of solar energy in water desalination
and in space heating via solar ponds demands detailed
information about the energy transfer from the solar
radiation to the water.
This energy transfer manifests itself in the change
of the solar spectral distribution with respect to depth
in water, the spectral change is due to the contribution
of two processes : absorption and scattering.
Although the solar spectral distribution at depth in
water was the subject of interest for a very long time
[1~,], the literature on this topic is still not extensive
and needs some consideration.
The object of this work is to study the solar spectral
distribution at depth in water for a large number of
points. This work is performed through the recon-
struction of the solar spectrum at the required depths.
t, = j l~ l e ~,,l~,.fO0 d;~ (I)
where 2o is the short wavelength limit of the spectrum,
I is the transmitted intensity at the air-water interface,
u(2) is the extinction coefficient of water, and f()J is
the spectral distribution function.
Although the variation of solar intensity with depth
in water can not be represented by an equation of
exponential nature because of the heterogeneous
nature of the solar radiation, the intensity of each
individual photon of the solar beam can be rep-
resented by an exponential equation, viz.
I~ = l e "" (2)

2. THE SOLAR SPECTRUM 3. THE EXTINCTION COEFFICIENT

The solar spectral distribution at a point in the
upper atmosphere [5] shows that the solar spectrum
covers a wide region of wavelengths extending from
the ultra-violet region to the far infra-red region. Due
to absorption and scattering the different atmospheric
layers play a great role in filtering this spectrum.
At sea level [6], the total solar intensity is reduced
to about 70% and the spectral distribution becomes
limited to the region of 30(~3200 n m where more than
95% of solar energy is contained in the wavelength
range of 300-2500 nm. Figure la illustrates the solar
spectrum at sea level where the dips in the infra-red
region have been omitted for the sake of making the
spectrum more suitable for a dry desert place with
almost no pollution.
At a depth x in water, the solar intensity I, is given
3l
The extinction coefficient of pure water as a func-
tion of wavelength has been studied extensively [8
11]. Highly reliable data from different sources are
classified and reported by Defant [12], these data were
used by several authors [13, 14].
The extinction coefficient of pure water shows a
strong dependence upon wavelength in the spectral
region of 300-2500 nm. This coefficient has a very low
value, i.e. of the order of l0 2 m ~in the visible region
of the spectrum and a very high value, i.e. of the order
of 104 m-~ in the far infra-red region of the spectrum.
This trend of variation with wavelength strongly indi-
cating the high absorptivity of water molecules in the
long wavelength region of the spectrum.
Figure 2 illustrates the extinction coefficient of pure
water in the wavelength range of 300-2500 nm.
32 J . A . MUADD! and M. A. JAMAL

2.0

1.6 ,\
E
c

"~ 1.2

£
uJ

,~0.8

04

i I / I

300 800 1300 1800 2300

Wavetengfh ( nm )
Fig. I. Solar spectrum at sea level. (a) Incident and (b) transmitted.

"-10 4 T 7 - - - -I - --- T - - - ~ - - - 4.1. The transmitted spectrum

For normal incidence of solar radiation onto the
water surface, i.e. the sun is at the zenith, part of the
103 t
solar spectrum is reflected to the atmosphere at the
air-water interface and the rest is transmitted. The
~E 10" transmitted intensity I in terms of the incident inten-
sity I0 is given by [15] :
lO'
4nln2
tJ i
I - (nl +n2) 2 I° (3)
g 10° i
where n~ and n2 are the refractive indices of the air
and water respectively.
16'
The refractive index of the water is not constant,
ig 2 t ~ ~ , , its variation with wavelength is accounted for by
500 1500 2500 Caushy's dispersion formula [15], viz.
Wavetengfh (nm)
B C
Fig. 2. Extinction coefficient of pure water (from various n=A+)~+~4 (4)
sources (after Defant [12])).
where A, B and C are constants characteristic of the
water.
It is sufficiently accurate for many applications to
4. THE PRESENT WORK
consider only the first two terms of Caushy's formula
The present work is concerned in the reconstruction [15]. To find the constants A and B in eq. (4) two
of the solar spectrum after transmission through vari- known values of the refractive index for the water at
ous depths in pure water. The reconstruction pro- two different wavelengths were used [16].
cedure is performed by a specially designed computer The refractive index of water has been calculated as
program and based upon two sets of data which have a function of wavelength in the range of 300-2500 nm
been adopted in this work: the digitized solar spec- by using eq. (4) and the refractive index for air is
trum at sea level and the extinction coefficient of pure assumed to be constant (n~ = 1).
water. The obtained results were used in eq. (3) together
 Solar spectrum at depth in water 33

with the data on the digitized solar spectrum at sea
level for the reconstruction o f the t r a n s m i t t e d solar
spectrum at the a i r - w a t e r interface. T h e reconstructed
spectrum is illustrated in Fig. lb.
4.2. The solar spectrum at depth
Using eq, (2), the t r a n s m i t t e d intensity Iv at d e p t h
x has been calculated for each wavelength, the cor-
responding data o f the t r a n s m i t t e d intensity at zero
d e p t h (data o b t a i n e d in Section 4.1) a n d the extinction
coefficient were used.
This procedure was carried o u t for a certain d e p t h
over the wavelength range of 300 2500 nm. T h e
results o b t a i n e d were used to reconstruct the solar
spectrum at t h a t depth.
Figures 3-6 illustrates the solar spectrum recon-
structed at various depths from 1 cm to 200 m.

2.0

1.6

1.2 t ransmi t ted

/~ 1 cm
E
10 cm
E
~ 5o cm

uJ
%

0 300 800 1300 1800 2300

Wavelength ( nm )
Fig. 3. Solar spectrum at various depths in pure water from 0 to 50 cm.

1.8

1.5

1.2
%

0.9

L~
~_ 0.6

0.3

0
300 z,O0 500 600 700 800 900
Wavetengfh ( nm 1
Fig. 4. Solar spectrum at various depths m pure water from 60 cm to 2 m.
34 J . A . MUADD1 and M. A. JAMAL

1.8

1.5
3m

8m
I0 m
E
c
~.2 \ I~ °o
i8 m
\
\
~ 0.9

~ 0.6

300 400 5~ 600 7~

Wavelength ( nrn )
Fig. 5. Solar spectrum at various depths in pure water from 3 to 18 m.

1.2
/"
1.0

0.8 /

~80 m
0.6
~100 m
/" J120 m

200 m

~0.4

0.2

0 300 ~ 400 500 ~ 600

Wavelength ( nm )
Fig. 6. Solar spectrum at various depths in pure water from 20 to 200 m.

5. CONCLUSIONS formula where the refractive index becomes higher at

The t r a n s m i t t e d solar spectrum at the a i r - w a t e r
interface (Fig. 1), suffers little reduction in intensity
in the s h o r t wavelength p a r t o f the solar spectrum.
This is conceivable on the basis o f C a u s h y ' s dispersion
short wavelengths.
The transmitted solar spectrum in pure water shows
m a n y interesting features. In the first centimeter all
p h o t o n s of wavelengths a b o v e 1300 nm are completely
removed from the spectrum a n d a b s o r b e d by the
 Solar spectrum at depth in water
water. A t a d e p t h greater t h a n 2 m, the solar spectral
distribution becomes limited to the visible region only.
It is very interesting to notice h o w the solar b e a m
gradually loses its heterogeneity with d e p t h in water
(Figs 3 6).
In the infra-red region of the solar spectrum selec-
tive a b s o r p t i o n takes place in water due to active
vibrational m o d e s o f the water molecules. Ionization
can not take place in pure water in the solar spectral
range of 30(~2500 nm as p h o t o n s energies are m u c h
lower t h a n the first ionization potential of water which
is 12.6 eV [17].
The t r a n s p a r e n c y of sea water is smaller t h a n pure
water owing to the scattering at particulate substances
which act as opacifing agents [18], if these scattering
centers are removed by careful filtration, then sea
water will have equivalent optical properties as pure
water, a n d the results o b t a i n e d in this work are equally
appliable to sea water.
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