The sea color is a complicated matter. Water reflects light very differently from typical terrestrial materials. The reflectivity of water is very low at low and medium angles of incident light and very high at high angles of incident light (sunrise, sunset).

 

Water is also transparent to light. Inside the water, light is subject to both refraction and attenuation. 

Furthermore, temperature, salinity, dissolved salts, organic substances, and suspended particulates, all affect what we perceive as the sea color.

 

The photographs were created using a long telephoto lens to extract the most colorful part of the picture.