Advisors:
Yuri Rzhanov and Shachak Pe'eri

Abstract:
Water column light attenuation is the cause of blue or green tint in underwater images. This can be corrected if the properties of the light source, the  water, and the camera are known. In this SURF internship the properties of the light source and the camera were characterized. The light source characterized was a 3250 Kelvin halogen bulb that simulates blackbody radiation. To calibrate the camera the quantum efficiency of the RGB color channels of several Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS)  in underwater cameras were measured. This was done by passing light through a monochromator, the narrow wavelength light were then imaged by the camera to measure the quantum efficiency. Although the quantum efficiency is sometimes recorded by the manufacturers, it rarely available to the public. A procedure was devised such that future cameras in use can also be calibrated and the quantum efficiency calculated. By using the camera and light source data along with knowledge of specific water column attenuation, underwater images can be color restored.