Automatic detection of water bodies from spaceborne SAR images

In this study an automatic open water area detection system for spaceborne SAR images is proposed. The two-phase system is based on traditional thresholding and on the Active Contour Model [1]. The robustness of the detector is tested with SAR images containing water areas that have emergent vegetation. Finally, the accuracy of the detector is validated by using a high resolution airborne image as a reference. The tests suggest that on roughened water areas the detector outperforms traditional thresholding, though in these cases completely automatic processing cannot be achieved.