The Context - Artificial Human Sensors: Science and Applications - page 47

The colour of water in rivers, lakes and oceans is mainly affected by particles
and solutes, which can absorb the light. The specific colour of water can be ob-
served, when the consistence of water is changed to snow and ice, as an intense
blue colour is scattered back, without any external interference, e.g. can be expe-
rienced from holes in fresh snow. Hues of blue to a change into a slightly green
nuance are also scattered back when light is scattered from frozen water, for exam-
ple from the mountainside or a glacier wall.
Mountains lakes and rivers may be of a turquoise colour at a distance, but
the pure water produces a light scattering light blue colour that can be observed,
when reflected at the surface. The sea and lake surface colour may also be affected
by the reflected skylight and together with the depth of the lake and the angle
the observation occurs, have a strong impact on the observed colour. Changes in
ocean colour can be caused by a variety of sources. The indirect ocean colour may
also understand and follow the effects of climate changes. For example, phyto-
plankton has a clear impact on the biological system and these organisms can be a
large scale indicator of the present conditions, such as the carbon dioxide used in
the photosynthesis process, that provides almost half the oxygen we breathe.
On the coastal water, another type of particle usually affects the light-
scattering properties and the colour of the water. The amount of particles sus-
pended in the water, the type of particles, and the depth and clarity of the water
all contribute to the overall colours observed along the coastline.

2.2.4 The Variety of Normal Colour Perception

The beautiful pictures in the previous section are indeed a sensation for the
observer. However, how do we actually communicate the colour perception and
the sensation we have experienced? The term colour perception performance has
obviously an important task in co-ordinating a general protocol in communicating
with other humans. In a meeting between people, the interaction in the argumen-
tation and the inspiring discussion is essential. The communication, which is often
developed in certain directions with specific rules of behaviours, e.g. an illustra-
tive body language or relating the discussions in a convincing manner. An arising
question would challenge the statement if there was an obvious power of diver-
sity effecting the discussion, on the individual basis, i.e., a statistical perceptual
spreading in a population's performance. For example in case of colour diversity,
there seems to be worth to rise whether a growing part, e.g. the older generation,
of the population is not able to detect the right colours. For example, the colours
may in certain situations not be as overwhelming as other state when admiring a
beautiful colour of water in a mountain lake. The stating of “a normal visual per-
ception” may be very restricted when we may not be able to get the full flavour of
understanding the nature we are a part of. In the light of nature, there seems that
the human performance is less flavoured than many of the animal's sensational be-
haviour. There is a possibility that humans actually do not envision the important
vision sensation as for example the visual abilities of, e.g. a cat, bat or bee. There