Underwater Image Enhancement using White Balance and Fusion

Abstract

Underwater images are widely used in marine research, archaeology, and ocean exploration, but they often suffer from poor visibility due to light absorption and scattering. These images usually appear blurred, low in contrast, and dominated by green or blue color tones. To address these issues, this paper presents an image enhancement method based on white balance and fusion techniques. The white balance method helps to restore lost colors by compensating for the red and blue channel attenuation. Further, fusion techniques are applied to reduce fogginess and improve contrast using methods like CLAHE and gamma correction. The combined approach enhances image clarity, sharpness, and overall visual quality. Thus, the proposed method provides an effective and simple solution for improving underwater image visibility for various applications.