# Underwater Optical Image Processing: A Comprehensive Review

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1702.03600 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1702.03600/

## Key facts

- Cited by 7 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 13 Feb 2017.

## Built on by (most cited first, 7 of 7)

- [What a MESS: Multi-Domain Evaluation of Zero-Shot Semantic Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.15521/) (2023)
- [The Common Objects Underwater (COU) Dataset for Robust Underwater Object Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.20651/) (2025)
- [Joint Perceptual Learning for Enhancement and Object Detection in Underwater Scenarios](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.03536/) (2023)
- [FAFA: Frequency-Aware Flow-Aided Self-Supervision for Underwater Object Pose Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.16600/) (2024)
- [An Adaptive Underwater Image Enhancement Framework via Multi-Domain Fusion and Color Compensation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.03640/) (2025)
- [Underwater Diffusion Attention Network with Contrastive Language-Image Joint Learning for Underwater Image Enhancement](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.19895/) (2025)
- [A deep neural network for multi-species fish detection using multiple acoustic cameras](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.10664/) (2021)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Underwater cameras are widely used to observe the sea floor. They are usually included in autonomous underwater vehicles, unmanned underwater vehicles, and in situ ocean sensor networks. Despite being an important sensor for monitoring underwater scenes, there exist many issues with recent underwater camera sensors. Because of lights transportation characteristics in water and the biological activity at the sea floor, the acquired underwater images often suffer from scatters and large amounts of noise. Over the last five years, many methods have been proposed to overcome traditional underwater imaging problems. This paper aims to review the state-of-the-art techniques in underwater image processing by highlighting the contributions and challenges presented in over 40 papers. We present an overview of various underwater image processing approaches, such as underwater image descattering, underwater image color restoration, and underwater image quality assessments. Finally, we summarize the future trends and challenges in designing and processing underwater imaging sensors.