New instrument for measuring sunlight extinction in water columns

In this paper we propose a method to obtain the water sunlight extinction by using commercial photodiodes whose sensitive band is not monochromatic. This procedure is based on the use of absorbance data provided by various authors for each wavelength and their weightings for spectral sensitivity of each photodiode. The ultimate goal is to be able to use this type of photodiodes in the “in situ” extinction coefficient measure and the effect that the absorption due to the water itself has on the above-mentioned coefficient, differentiating it from absorption by other components, dissolved or dispersed, in the water column.