What does the ocean reflect when it is deep and when it is shallow?
It is not really the ocean that is doing the reflecting. Water absorbs light rays, preferentially starting at the smaller wavelengths. What is why when you are swimming water appears to be blue. The red and orange wavelengths are absorbed by the water molecules. So when you are looking at a deep body of water it appears dark. As apposed to a shallow body of water. In shallow water, you are actually seeing the reflection of light off the sandy bottom. This is why the water off the Bahamas appears to be a nice bright light blue. They have white sand which reflects to majority of the light that passed through the water column. In locations where the sand is dark, shallow water will appear darker.
