A Survey of Restoration and Enhancement for Underwater Images

Images captured underwater usually suffer from color distortion, detail blurring, low contrast, and a bluish or greenish tone due to light scattering and absorption in the underwater medium, which in turn the visibility is adversely affected by these factors seriously. Over the last decades, various image restoration and enhancement methods have been developed by many researchers to improve the quality (visibility and highlight richer details) of underwater images. This paper introduces the overview of state-of-the-art underwater image restoration and enhancement techniques and classifies the approaches in two categories: image restoration (physical-based model) and image enhancement (nonphysical-based model). Furthermore, the classification of these two methods is elaborated. Then, the typical underwater image restoration and enhancement methods are discussed in detail, as well as a comprehensive study and fair evaluation of the methods is carried out from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives. Finally, the research process of underwater image restoration and enhancement is summarized and the suggestions for future research are prospected.