Bioluminescence estimation from ocean in situ irradiances

An algorithm is developed for estimating the spatial location and magnitude of a bioluminescent radiation source from measurements of the in situ irradiance and scalar irradiance at two depths. The algorithm is based on the principle of photon conservation. The most direct application of the algorithm requires that the absorption coefficient be known, but the algorithm is useful even if that coefficient is unknown. Numerical tests and an error analysis have been done to test the algorithm numerically. In addition we show that if the estimated source magnitude is nearly constant, that value can be used to estimate the vertical attenuation coefficient of the radiation field.