In this paper

a study was carried out to calculate the diffuse attenuation coefficient of suspended sediment by using the ASD F3. The experiment is based on measuring the radiance of an artificial light source penetrating through the water with different concentrations of suspended sediment in different water depths. Compared with pure water

the diffuse attenuation coefficients of suspended sediment with similar grain sizes were calculated for different concentrations with wavelength from 350 to 920 nm. The results show that the spectral characteristics of the diffuse attenuation coefficient of suspended sediment are simplex

and it decreases as the wavelength increases. Furthermore

it shows a positive correlation between the diffuse attenuation coefficients and the concentrations of suspended sediment

with the exception of the water depth from 0~0.15 m

where the diffuse attenuation coefficients of suspended sediment are almost invariant. The diffuse attenuation coefficient of per unit concentration of suspended sediment used in the experiment gradually decreases from 0.084 to 0.069 m

2

/g with wavelength from 350 to 920 nm.