In a new article for the Journal of Applied Hydrography (Hydrographische Nachrichten), four experts introduce Satellite-Derived Bathymetry as an effective technology for mapping water depth worldwide. The article pro­vides an overview of all aspects of SDB surveys from satellite sources, SDB workflows and methods to use cases.

Mapping shallow-waters remotely

Unlike other survey methods Satellite-Derived Bathymetry (SDB) offers a remote map­ping of shallow water zones. It is an innovative remote sensing technology for mapping water depth.
It is based on the concept of using the reflectance inten­sity of different wavelengths (colours) of the sunlight which is recorded by the satellite sensor. This information in combination with relevant databases and physical models determines the shallow water depth down to the light penetration depth.

Shallow waters are still poorly surveyed

According to the International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO), shallow waters remain largely uncharted. (Status of Hydrographic Surveying and Charting Worldwide; IHO Publication c-55, Monaco, 2016). In the last decade, there has been an increasing interest of SDB methods and derived data. Vari­ous exercises have been done by academia and industry to validate and evaluate SDB data sets.

This awareness is based on two major developments:
  • the recent availa­bility of very high resolution satellite data mapping the seafloor in sufficient detail
  • and the design of robust and standardised algorithms and workflows.
The demand of ac­cessing bathymetric data for the shallow water zone, costs and the ability to map with ship and airborne sensors have also led to high interest in this effective surveying tool.
Light Penetration in the Baltic Sea, Worldview-2, Denmark

Maximum light penetration depth of sunlight highlighted for the Baltic Sea (Denmark) using very high-resolution WorldView-2 satellite image data. The colours represent the different wave-lengths of the sensor (colours) which are overlaid by 5 m and 10 m depth contours of the nautical chart. With increasing depth seafloor reflectance is dominated by shorter wavelengths. In organic rich waters such as the Baltic Sea the green wavelength(s) penetrate deepest.

Satellite data sources: imagery of the entire Earth

Depending on the spatial resolution / pixel size of the satellite images, they are typically classified in very high resolution (<2 m spatial resolution), high (<10 m), moderate (better than 100 m) and coarse (several hundred metres) data sets. Only the first three are typically of interest for shallow-water bathymetric mapping. Imaging satellite data is recorded for every place on Earth in high frequency.

Earth Observation data archives for +15 years in high resolution

Now, we can look back to an archive of about 15 years for very high-resolution data and almost 40 years of moderate resolution data sets. This enables hydrographic stakeholders not only to map most recent conditions, but also to see changes over time. Satellite data coverage is not equally distributed around the globe and ranges from few data sets (e.g. remote places in the higher latitudes) to several hundreds to thousands of data sets (e.g.urban areas).
For the header image, we compared acoustic and LiDAR bathymetric data sets with a satellite-derived bathymetric grid for the German Wadden Sea area. It shows the validity and relatively deep mapping potential of the Wadden Sea area as well as the ability to identify movements of seabed topography.

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Waddensea SDB against Lidar and Radar field data

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