Shallow Water Bathymetry Retrieval by Optical Remote Sensing Based on Depth-Invariant Index and Location Features

Abstract At present, most machine learning bathymetry retrieval models use the band reflectance as the inversion feature only, without considering features related to the water substrate and pixel spatial correlation. In this study, in addition to band reflectance, two features, Depth-Invariant Index (DII) and pixel location, are taken into account. Two machine learning algorithms, Random Forest (RF) and Back Propagation (BP) neural network are used to retrieve bathymetry. The effects of the two features on the accuracy and performance of bathymetry retrieval are explored. The results show that: (i) Machine learning algorithms are generally superior to the widely used Stumpf model. Stumpf model performs better only in the depth range of 8–16 m, with a Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 0.85 m, but has poor performance in other depth ranges. (ii) Compared with models that use Band Reflectance (BR) only, DIIb,g (blue-green DII) + BR model, Location and Location + BR models are all superior to the BR model for RF and BP algorithms. It means that DII and location features are very effective in improving the bathymetry retrieval accuracy.