Abstract
Morphological changes in coastal areas, especially in river estuaries, are of high interest in many parts of the world. Satellite data from both optical and radar sensors can help to monitor and investigate these changes. Data from both kinds of sensors being available for up to 30 years now, allow examinations over large timescales, while high resolution sensors developed within the last decade allow increased accuracy. So the creation of digital elevation models (DEMs) of, for example, the wadden sea from a series of satellite images is already possible. ENVISAT, successfully launched on March 1, 2002, continues the line of higher resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging sensors with its ASAR instrument and now also allows several polarization modes for better separation of land and water areas. This article gives an overview of sensors and algorithms for waterline determination as well as several applications. Both optical and SAR images are considered. Applications include morphodynamic monitoring studies and DEM generation.
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Notes
A waterline is the instantaneous land–water boundary at the time of the imaging process. A coastline or shoreline is the waterline at the highest possible water level.
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Acknowledgements
The authors like to thank Edzard Romaneeßen for the development of parts of the SAR waterline extraction algorithm and Norbert Winkel for providing tidal gauge and topographical comparison data. The work was done within the HGF project ENVOC.
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Niedermeier, A., Hoja, D. & Lehner, S. Topography and morphodynamics in the German Bight using SAR and optical remote sensing data. Ocean Dynamics 55, 100–109 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-005-0114-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-005-0114-2