Inland and Coastal Waterline Extraction Using Cosmo-Skymed Second Generation SAR Imagery

This study focuses on the capability of extracting the waterline in different cases using quad-polarimetric (QP) X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) measurements. A baseline unsupervised waterline extraction scheme is applied which is feed with single-, dual- and quad-polarimetric features to assess the role of polarimetric information. Two different scenarios are accounted for: i) a sandy and gently coastal profile; ii) an inland steep water bodies. The study areas are identified in the Ionian coast of Basilicata region, south of Italy, where QP SAR images collected by the Cosmo-SkyMed Second Generation (CSG) Italian satellite constellation are collected over the Metaponto Plain and the San Giuliano dammed artifical lake, respectively. Preliminary results obtained from the inland water body suggest that full-polarimetric CSG SAR data have potential to be used to perform unsupervised waterline extraction, even though the specific water conditions and coastal morphology must be carefully accounted for.