# Underwater scene reconstruction

Area: [3D reconstruction and neural rendering](https://mlsanity.com/recon3d/index.md). HTML: https://mlsanity.com/recon3d/underwater-scene-reconstruction/

## Key facts

- Underwater scene reconstruction: 68 papers on arXiv since 2021 (data through 19 Oct 2026).
- 26 of its 68 mapped papers (38%) cite “WaterSplatting: Fast Underwater 3D Scene Reconstruction Using Gaussian Splatting” (2024, arXiv 2408.08206).
- 21 of its 68 mapped papers (31%) cite “SeaSplat: Representing Underwater Scenes with 3D Gaussian Splatting and a Physically Grounded Image Formation Model” (2024, arXiv 2409.17345).
- 4 new papers 1 Oct–19 Oct.

## Most cited here

- [WaterSplatting: Fast Underwater 3D Scene Reconstruction Using Gaussian Splatting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.08206/) (2024), cited by 26 papers here
- [SeaSplat: Representing Underwater Scenes with 3D Gaussian Splatting and a Physically Grounded Image Formation Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.17345/) (2024), cited by 21 papers here
- [WaterNeRF: Neural Radiance Fields for Underwater Scenes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.13091/) (2022), cited by 19 papers here
- [UW-GS: Distractor-Aware 3D Gaussian Splatting for Enhanced Underwater Scene Reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.01517/) (2024), cited by 15 papers here
- [Beyond NeRF Underwater: Learning Neural Reflectance Fields for True Color Correction of Marine Imagery](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.03384/) (2023), cited by 12 papers here
- [AONeuS: A Neural Rendering Framework for Acoustic-Optical Sensor Fusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.03309/) (2024), cited by 8 papers here
- [Aquatic-GS: A Hybrid 3D Representation for Underwater Scenes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.00239/) (2024), cited by 8 papers here
- [Neural Implicit Surface Reconstruction using Imaging Sonar](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.08221/) (2022), cited by 7 papers here
- [Real-Time Dense 3D Mapping of Underwater Environments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.02704/) (2023), cited by 7 papers here
- [RecGS: Removing Water Caustic with Recurrent Gaussian Splatting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.10318/) (2024), cited by 7 papers here

## New (1 Oct–19 Oct)

- [Benchmarking 3D Reconstruction for Under-Ice Robotic Perception in Arctic Environments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.19097/) (2026-10-13)
- [PUGS: Physics-Guided Uncertainty Modeling for Underwater Dynamic 3D Gaussian Splatting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.17936/) (2026-10-13)
- [Image-Space Refraction Correction for Underwater 3D Reconstruction: Warping Flat-Port Views into Pinhole Perspective](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.07788/) (2026-10-06)
- [SURGE: Sonar-fUsed Reconstruction and localization via image-gated Graph Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.07472/) (2026-10-05)