Colors of Water

One of the things I am fascinated with is the color of the seas and the objects in them. These colors are so distinctively recognizable as being of the sea. However, water has no color. Yet it can appear as blue, green, brown, black or gray. Ever wonder how that happens? This tiny summary is produced using the information found at The Color of Water.

Basically, water appears as different colors because of the light reflecting upward from the water itself and from particles or plants in the water. Reflection from the sky above affects it to a degree.

If the water appears:

blue

Red light in the spectrum is being absorbed by the water, and it reflects more blue. Floating particles affect the color as well.

blue-green

The water is mostly clear of any particles.

brown

Mud in the water is reflecting more red light than blue, creating brown.

black

Peat is present in the water

gray

A cloudy day absorbs red light before it reaches the water.

Of course, the deeper one goes underwater, the less color there is. That's because light doesn't get through to those depths.

Hope this helps in determining why a particular body of water looks the color that it does.