Underwater Image Enhancement Based on Adaptive Color Correction and Multi-scale Fusion

Underwater Image Enhancement Based on Adaptive Color Correction and Multi-scale Fusion | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Underwater Image Enhancement Based on Adaptive Color Correction and Multi-scale Fusion Yang Bai, Zhe Li, Libo Cheng, Xiaoning Jia This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5666721/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Underwater imaging is characterized by significant color distortion and low contrast, primarily due to the complex interactions of light absorption and scattering in aquatic environments. This work presents a novel enhancement framework designed to address these challenges through adaptive optimization and advanced fusion techniques. The method operates independently of specialized hardware and predefined environmental conditions. The enhancement process begins with adaptive color correction to mitigate color cast, followed by a transformation to the HSV color space for isolated value (V) channel processing. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) integrates the processed components, yielding a globally enhanced image. Simultaneously, image decomposition refines fine-scale details, and an enhanced Retinex algorithm is applied to accentuate edge structures. The Non-Subsampled Shearlet Transform (NSST) fuses the globally enhanced, detail-enhanced, and edge-enhanced images into a unified output, followed by further optimization to produce the final enhanced image. Extensive experiments confirm superior performance across various metrics, including PCQI, UCIQE, UIQM, and IE, surpassing existing state-of-the-art methods. Feature preservation capabilities are validated using the Speeded-Up Robust Features (SURF) algorithm, highlighting the method’s potential in underwater exploration, photography, and robotic vision. Underwater Image Enhancement Adaptive Color Correction Multi-scale Fusion Feature Preservation Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5666721","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":391879730,"identity":"683e3291-c62c-4fe9-8ad4-237e75e42ee0","order_by":0,"name":"Yang Bai","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Changchun University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yang","middleName":"","lastName":"Bai","suffix":""},{"id":391879731,"identity":"eca14b03-c9f3-453a-9b70-556ed1405fea","order_by":1,"name":"Zhe Li","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA3klEQVRIie2RMQrCQBBFNyxsFUg7ATFXWBBSeZhZAqkiWkmKFIKSFCK2ET2ElViuRFKtfcrkBtppIyqWShI7i331POb/GUI0mn8EiCExBNOi9FBiGLVSiETV79pJ7PFS5S0VI/Z7XCnXrma02XDWUylLlolVGrihmDBiJXOsVYxNjhLNTCzBHxdi3yGgTttahULAJcJri7crhGKEw6BeYTA8S+SZ2BbojkRMmxUTgufF8FX/6JJWCoD/DCbfRwZUudnYxUm9qrrd36+8XMOoayWLeuUz6W/jGo1Go/nKA3PjUI7zpEZQAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Changchun University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Zhe","middleName":"","lastName":"Li","suffix":""},{"id":391879732,"identity":"f65196fa-0079-4609-92e1-e9bb7912adea","order_by":2,"name":"Libo Cheng","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Changchun University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Libo","middleName":"","lastName":"Cheng","suffix":""},{"id":391879733,"identity":"35713c5c-469e-4b56-a7f4-8e01febc90ad","order_by":3,"name":"Xiaoning Jia","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Changchun University of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xiaoning","middleName":"","lastName":"Jia","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-12-18 06:53:12","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5666721/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5666721/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":76701153,"identity":"9b13f7cd-5261-41f2-96f9-ec3888c7d116","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-02-19 21:31:32","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1695311,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"snarticle.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5666721/v1_covered_95dffe8f-0450-4079-8e30-d49060f261bf.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Underwater Image Enhancement Based on Adaptive Color Correction and Multi-scale Fusion","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Underwater Image Enhancement, Adaptive Color Correction, Multi-scale Fusion, Feature Preservation","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5666721/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5666721/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Underwater imaging is characterized by significant color distortion and low contrast, primarily due to the complex interactions of light absorption and scattering in aquatic environments. 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