Only a small fraction of the light incident on the ocean will be reflected and received by the satellite. The probability for a photon to reflect and exit the ocean decreases exponentially with length of its path through the water because the ocean is an absorbing medium. The more ocean a photon must travel through, the greater its chances of being absorbed by something. After absorption, it will eventually become part of the ocean's heat reservoir. The absorption and scattering characteristics of a water body determine the rate of vertical light attenuation and set a limit to the depths contributing to a satellite signal. A reasonable rule of thumb is that 90 percent of the signal coming from the water that is seen by the satellite is from the first attenuation length. How deep this is depends on the absorption and scattering properties of both the water itself and other constituents in the water. For wavelengths in the near infrared and longer, the penetration depth varies from a metre to a few micrometres. For band 1, the penetration depth will usually be between 1 and 10 metres. If the water has a large turbidity spike below 10 metres, the spike is unlikely to be seen by a satellite.
For very shallow clear water there is a good chance the bottom may be seen. For example, in the Bahamas, the water is quite clear and only a few metres deep, resulting in an apparent high turbidity because the bottom reflects much band 1 light. For areas with consistently high turbidity signals, particularly areas with relatively clear water, part of the signal may be due to bottom reflection. Normally this will not be a problem with a post-hurricane turbidity image since the storm easily resuspends enough sediment such that bottom reflection is negligible.
Clouds are also problematic for the interpretation of satellite derived turbidity. Cloud removal algorithms perform a satisfactory job for pixels that are fully cloudy. Partially cloudy pixels are much harder to identify and typically result in false high turbidity estimates. High turbidity values near clouds are suspect.