Difference of the modulation transfer function for long-exposure imaging between the oceanic turbulence and the atmospheric turbulence is compared. Applicability of the modulation transfer function for short-exposure imaging (SEMTF) in the oceanic turbulence is discussed. Moreover, effects of the oceanic turbulence parameters on the system resolution are studied in detail. Results show that the quality of imaging is better in the dominating temperature-induced turbulence than that in the dominating salinity-induced turbulence, i.e., the image contains more high-frequency components of the original image. The SEMTF study based on the Fried short-exposure theory is defective in the high-frequency region, but the applicability of SEMTF can be enhanced as the ratio of lens diameter to the spatial coherence radius and the path length increase. In addition, the resolution of imaging decreases, i.e., the quality of imaging is degraded, as the ratio of temperature and salinity of the seawater power spectrum increases, the dissipation rate of the seawater temperature variance increases, and the dissipation rate of the seawater unit mass turbulence kinetic energy decreases.