Why is the sea green in south east asia?

Its a serious question, honest.

Compare the bright blue waters of the Carribean, for example. I thought the
blue was supposed to be due to the blue sky. Yet the waters around Thailand
are vibrant emerald green. Its not algae or anything like that - the waters
a crystal clear. And neither is it the underlying rocks or corals: the
emerald color is just as pronounced even over sandy white Thai beaches.

Presumably its not the green sky doing it ;-) So what is it? Is the water
really so rich in some mineral or other that turns it green? If it *is* a
mineral, then what is it?

Cheers,

Chip.

On Fri, 22 Aug 2003 06:46:52 -0400, Chip wrote:


This is a shot in the dark:

I know that some of the very beautiful lakes in the Canadian Rockies
get their greenish-blue color from ground up rock power. The rocks
were ground up by the glaciers and then frozen in the ice. As the ice
melts the rock powder flows into the lakes. This power is so fine that
the lakes look very clear but have a distinct color. I realize there
are no melting glaciers in Thailand but there may be another source of
fine power.

"Gordon L. Richard" <[Only registered users see links. ]> wrote in message
news:[Only registered users see links. ]...
the
Thailand
waters
water
a

Thanks for the reply. Of course you may be right, but personally I don't
buy the algae explanation. If you went to Thailand and saw the water for
yourself, I think you'd have to agree. A good example is at Phi Phi Don
(just around the corner from where they filmed "The Beach"). The water is
simply crystal clear emerald. Its quite bizarre.

Chip.

[hydra]

Originally Posted by Chip

Its a serious question, honest.

Compare the bright blue waters of the Carribean, for example. I thought the
blue was supposed to be due to the blue sky. Yet the waters around Thailand
are vibrant emerald green. Its not algae or anything like that - the waters
a crystal clear. And neither is it the underlying rocks or corals: the
emerald color is just as pronounced even over sandy white Thai beaches.

Presumably its not the green sky doing it ;-) So what is it? Is the water
really so rich in some mineral or other that turns it green? If it *is* a
mineral, then what is it?

Cheers,

Chip.

Water behaves differently to the sky
In the sky the blue light is because of the scattered shorter wavelengths (like blue) of white light

But water not only scatters the blue light but also absorbs the long wave lenghts(like red) according to how big the suspended particles in water are.

so if the water absobrs lot of red the remaining color will be green& violet.Violet is subsequently absorbed by the the air just above the water.(just like in the sky)
This adds to the green color

dude i read this in the book "Secrets of nature's colors"