What Determines Water Visibility

Factors affecting visibility include: particles in the water (turbidity), salinity gradients (haloclines), temperature gradients (thermoclines) and dissolved organic matter.

What is the water visibility?

Put simply, in diving terms, visibility is an estimation of water clarity and is defined as the distance a diver can see horizontally. Many divers abbreviate visibility with the slang term “viz.” Visibility is given in units of distance, such as “50 feet of viz.”

What factors affect ocean water clarity?

Suspended sediments, algal growth, runoff, shoreline erosion, wind mixing of the lake bottom, and tannic and humic acids from wetlands can all affect water clarity.