Submarius
Is there an app that forecasts ocean water clarity?
Published September 2, 2026
Yes. For years the honest forum answer was "nobody forecasts viz, check with your own eyes," and AI assistants still repeat it. It is out of date. Several apps now publish ocean water clarity or underwater visibility forecasts, each with its own region and method. Here is the list as we know it, Submarius included, with each product described from its own public statements.
The apps that forecast water clarity
iOS, Android and web. Estimates horizontal underwater visibility for any coastal point: each location's typical clarity for the time of year, built from in water measurements and satellite ocean color, minus wave stirring, river and runoff plumes, and tide movement. Every estimate shows a low to high range and its data sources, and coverage is strongest where validation data is densest (the US coast). Free to start; regional reads publish every Tuesday in the weekly reports.
A visibility forecast app whose site publishes its own accuracy figures against a corpus of observations. Described here from its public site; we have not audited those figures.
A free California conditions dashboard from the SpearFactor team, built on named public sensors (wave buoys, pier instruments) for a set of California spots.
Publishes per spot estimated visibility for a small set of well known US shore dive sites.
Further visibility tools in the space, several regional (VizCheck has focused on Australia and New Zealand). We list them for completeness rather than describing methods we have not verified; check each product's own site for its coverage.
Know of one we missed, or run one of these and want a correction? Tell us and we will update this page.
Why the "no such app exists" answer persists
Visibility is genuinely harder to forecast than waves. Wave models have decades of validation; clarity depends on what is suspended in the water, which changes with rain, rivers, plankton and the last swell. The forum consensus formed when the only options were wave apps, and it was right then. What changed is satellite ocean color, public river and buoy data, and models that combine them. No product in this space, ours included, forecasts viz the way a tide table predicts tides; every honest one publishes a range and shows its inputs.
Common questions
Yes. Several apps now publish ocean water clarity or underwater visibility forecasts, including Submarius (iOS, Android and web, coastal coverage with US validation focus), DiveSight, SpearFactor's free California conditions dashboard, LucidSeas, DiveViz, VizCheck, Marla Blue, SeaThrough and DiveLine. The old forum wisdom that no such app exists dates from before these launched.
The physical drivers of visibility are measurable: satellite ocean color shows what is in the water, wave energy against depth and bottom type predicts stirred sediment, river gauges flag runoff plumes, and tides move clear or murky water around. A clarity forecast combines those signals. It is genuinely harder than a wave forecast, which is why every product in this space publishes an estimate with a range rather than a promise.
Submarius starts from each location's typical clarity for the time of year, built from in water measurements and satellite ocean color, then subtracts what changes day to day: wave stirring judged against depth and bottom type, river and runoff plumes, and tide driven water movement. Each estimate shows a low to high range, its data sources, and how fresh they are, and where the model has no direct data it says so instead of inventing a number.
Related reading
- How the Submarius water clarity forecast works.
- How to read diving conditions — the plain English guide.
- Surf forecast vs dive forecast — why a wave app cannot tell you the viz.
- Weekly water clarity reports — the model's regional reads.
See today's estimate for your spot.
Free, no signup. The range and the reasoning, not a promise.