Satellite-derived bathymetry combined with Sentinel-2 and ICESat-2 datasets using machine learning

Most satellite-derived bathymetry (SDB) methods developed thus far from passive remote sensing data have required in situ water depth, thus limiting their utility in areas with no in situ data. Recently, new Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) observations have shown great potential in providing high-precision a priori water depth benefits from range-resolved lidar. In this study, we propose a combined active and passive remote sensing SDB method using only satellite data. An adaptive ellipse DBSCAN (AE-DBSCAN) algorithm is introduced to derive a priori bathymetric data from ICESat-2 data to automatically adapt to the terrain change complexity, and then we use these a priori bathymetric data in Sentinel-2 images to help build a model between remote sensing reflectance (Rrs) and water depth. Three machine learning (ML) methods are then employed, and the performances compared with conventional empirical SDB models are presented. After that, the results using different Sentinel-2 Rrs band combinations and the effects with and without atmospheric correction on ML-based SDB are discussed. The results showed that our AE-DBSCAN method performs better than the standard DBSCAN method, and the ML-based SDB can achieve an overall RMSE of less than 1.5 m in St. Thomas better than the traditional SDB method. They also indicate that ML-based SDB can obtain a relatively high-precision water depth without atmospheric correction, which helps to improve processing efficiency by avoiding a complex atmospheric correction process.