Derived Depths in Opaque Waters Using ICESat‐2 Photon‐Counting Lidar

Abstract

AbstractSince turbid waters make it extremely difficult for light to penetrate the water column due to attenuation, performing satellite‐derived bathymetry using spectral images and/or photon‐counting lidars is a very challenging problem in turbid waters. The photon‐counting lidar borne on Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite‐2 (ICESat‐2) can obtain high‐resolution and accurate height estimations of sea surfaces, that do not depend on the water clarity. Using the ocean surface waves calculated from ICESat‐2 and classical wave theory that models the relationship between the water depth and wavelength, we propose a method to estimate the depths in opaque waters. The performance is validated in different water qualities with a mean absolute percent error of 9%∼22%. The basic theory of estimating water depths in this study is entirely different from that of conventional laser bathymetry, and this method has the potential to fill the gap of space‐based bathymetric data sets in turbid waters.