Deep Blue Water

What makes blue water blue? Every schoolboy knows that, on a clear day, the sea looks blue when looked at from a low angle: it is merely the blue sky reflected in the water's surface. But Dr. Francis A. Jenkins of the University of California and Dr. Ira S. Bowen, now director of Mt. Wilson Observatory, announced this week that they knew why deep water is also blue when looked at from above at close range.

While doing antisubmarine research for the Navy, Jenkins and Bowen examined seawater under an ultraviolet microscope. Every cubic inch, they discovered, contained about 1,500,000 submicroscopic particles 1/50,000th of an inch in diameter. These particles reflect violet, blue and green light rays back to the surface, where they combine to give ocean water its characteristic color. When water looks green, it contains larger particles (silt or small living creatures) which reflect other kinds of light.

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