Does water absorb or reflect infrared light, and what color does it appear in composite imagery?

Water primarily absorbs infrared light and reflects visible light, particularly in the blue part of the spectrum. In composite imagery, water typically appears blue because it reflects more blue wavelengths of light as opposed to red or green.

When dealing with infrared light, the absorption characteristics of water mean that large amounts of this wavelength are taken in rather than reflected. This is why, in imagery that leverages infrared bands, water bodies can appear very bright or even saturated, depending on the specific processing techniques used, which often highlights areas of high absorption, contributing to the understanding of land cover and hydrology.

The color representation in composite imagery allows for easy discrimination between water bodies and other land types. Therefore, water appears blue in such imagery due to its reflectance properties in the visible spectrum, aligning with how our eyes perceive color. Thus, the correct understanding is that water absorbs infrared light and appears blue in composite imagery, which contradicts the chosen answer of appearing bright red.