Automatic Determination, Feature-extraction, and Classification of Tidal-courses through Remote-sensing Images: Preliminary Studies

Unlike rivers, tidal-paths present different drainage configurations within their complex distribution. The determinations of their features is the first step towards modeling their evolution. In this work, a methodology is presented for automatic morphometric extraction and characterization of tidal-paths over high resolution satellite images (IKONOS, 1 m resolution). The algorithm accurately computes the total length of the structure. In addition, it identifies and characterizes each branch by super-resolution. Then, the drainage paths without loops are classified defining the order in which they flood and ebb by effect of the tides. The method was tested on two tidal-paths with very different features: a rectangular or trellis drainage, and a dendritic one.