Automatic Extraction of Mountain River Surface and Width Based on Multisource High-Resolution Satellite Images

Abstract

The extraction of high-resolution geomorphic information from remote sensing images is a key technology for supporting mountain river research. Extracting small rivers (width < 90 m) from complex backgrounds based on satellite images remains a challenging issue. In this research, we propose an improved random forest (RF) algorithm, RF-ANN (artificial neural network), by using neural networks and thermal infrared data for the extraction of river surfaces. We also develop an automated river width extraction (ARWE) method based on the central axis transformation algorithm and centerline automatic correction algorithm for the automatic extraction of the river widths across the whole basin. We chose the Huangfuchuan River Basin on the Loess Plateau, China, as a case study area. Chinese GF-1 and ZY-3 satellite images were implemented as the primary data source. We extracted the bankfull river surface and river widths of the Huangfuchuan River by using these two improved methods. The results show that the RF-ANN method has a total river surface extraction accuracy of 94.7%, and the extracted river surfaces cover more than 85% of the order 3 DEM river network. By implementing high-resolution DEM and thermal infrared data, RF-ANN effectively eliminates the disturbance of shadows of mountains and other features, which ensures the high accuracy of the extracted widths. It was verified that the maximum and minimum river widths that can be extracted in the Huangfuchuan River Basin are 297.4 m and 6.1 m, respectively. The overall error of river width extraction is 0.97 m, which is less than half of the pixel length of remote sensing images. The R2 and root mean square error (RMSE) of the estimated river width values are 0.99 and 1.49, respectively. For tiny rivers with widths narrower than 10 m, the error of river width extraction is 10.9%. The error of thin rivers whose widths range from 10 to 30 m is 4.9%. For small rivers ranging from 30 to 90 and rivers wider than 90 m, the error is 1.1% and 0.6%, respectively. The new approach provides an effective method for extracting the surface and width of mountain rivers in topographically complex regions by using high-resolution satellite images, which may provide a database for estimating river carbon emissions and related research in fluvial morphology and water resource management.