When sunlight hits water at the same Angle as a satellite's view, smooth areas reflect light like mirrored surfaces while rough regions scatter light and appear darker.

To minimize this problem, Angle the floor Tom slightly by lowering the triangular height rod (the one nearest the drummer) to taste; see Figure 2. This causes the waves to scatter somewhat.

The main factors affecting the quality of underwater light image are backscatter and small-angle forward scatter.