Spaceborne active-passive optical fusion bathymetry in coastal waters: the implications of ICESat-2 photons
Up-to-date bathymetric data is essential for global coastal management and protection. Conventional surveying equipment is not only inefficient but also difficult to reach on remote island coasts. The fusion of ICESat-2 photons with optical satellite imagery provides a purely spaceborne bathymetric...
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis Group
2025-08-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Digital Earth |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17538947.2025.2521789 |
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| Summary: | Up-to-date bathymetric data is essential for global coastal management and protection. Conventional surveying equipment is not only inefficient but also difficult to reach on remote island coasts. The fusion of ICESat-2 photons with optical satellite imagery provides a purely spaceborne bathymetric solution. However, the inherent properties of ICESat-2 bathymetric photons (e.g. coverage, accuracy) increase the uncertainty of spaceborne fusion bathymetry. In this study, the southeast coastal waters of Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands are used as the study area to assess the impacts of ICESat-2 photons on fusion bathymetry. Multi-track ICESat-2 bathymetric photons extracted by an automated algorithm are used to construct a machine learning-based fusion bathymetry model with Sentinel-2 multispectral imagery. The results show that increasing the coverage of photon tracks can maximize the performance of the model, with root mean square error (RMSE) of ∼2 m in water depths of 30 m. Furthermore, an appropriate increase in along-track bathymetric photons can slightly enhance the accuracy of fusion bathymetry, despite the relatively lower accuracy of photon bathymetry. Notably, the spaceborne fusion bathymetry model derived from ICESat-2 bathymetry exhibits generally worse than the model based on airborne LiDAR bathymetry. This work holds some guiding significance for purely spaceborne coastal bathymetry. |
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| ISSN: | 1753-8947 1753-8955 |