Bulletin of Surveying and Mapping ›› 2026, Vol. 0 ›› Issue (6): 49-54.doi: 10.13474/j.cnki.11-2246.2026.0608

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Water depth extraction from ICESat-2 based on an improved DBSCAN algorithm

DENG Fuyang1, XIE Tao1,2,3,4, LI Jian1, WANG Chao5, LIU Hui1, ZHANG Xuehong1, BAI Shuying1   

  1. 1. School of Remote Sensing and Geomatics Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China;
    2. Laboratory for Regional Oceanography and Numerical Modeling, Qingdao Marine Science and Technology Center, Qingdao 266200, China;
    3. Technology Innovation Center for Integration Applications in Remote Sensing and Navigation, Ministry of Natural Resources, Nanjing 210044, China;
    4. Jiangsu Province Engineering Research Center for Collaborative Navigation/Positioning and Smart Application, Nanjing 210044, China;
    5. School of Electronic and Information Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China
  • Received:2025-10-21 Published:2026-07-09

Abstract: [Purposes]Aiming at the problems of noise interference and insufficient signal continuity in the process of seabed photon extraction from ICESat-2 laser altimetry data.[Methods]This paper proposes an improved denoising model based on the density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN)algorithm.The model introduces an elliptical filtering kernel to adapt to the spatial distribution characteristics of seabed photons,incorporates a small cluster removal mechanism to eliminate discrete noise,and applies a continuity constraint strategy to enhance the spatial coherence of the signal photons.[Findings]Experimental results in the Oahu area of Hawaii show that the proposed method can effectively extract seabed photon signals,with denoising accuracy indices reaching R2=99.45%,RMSE=0.48 m,MAE=0.38 m,and MRE=14.82%.[Conclusions]The proposed method demonstrates significant advantages in suppressing noise and maintaining signal integrity,accurately reflecting the spatial structural characteristics of seabed topography,and providing a reliable technical approach for underwater topographic mapping in coastal zones.

Key words: ICESat-2, water depth extraction, photon denoising, DBSCAN

CLC Number: