Automated Computational Delimitation of SST Upwelling Areas using Fuzzy Clustering
01 Jun 2012
(...) In this paper, we modify the method to apply it in a fully automated manner without any pre-specified expert knowledge. We describe a computational system, FuzzyUPWELL, that provides a framework needed for a totally unsupervised segmentation and delimitation of upwelling areas on SST images. The FuzzyUPWELL system integrates an unsupervised fuzzy clustering algorithm, a threshold procedure combining a set of features extracted from clusters to determine the upwelling fronts, a mechanism to delimitate the upwelling areas by fuzzy boundaries defined from measures of classification uncertainty, and a Graphical User Interface (GUI). The system has been successfully applied to a collection of 113 images obtained at the coastal ocean of Portugal during the upwelling seasons of 1998 and 1999. The collection covers much diverse upwelling situations. The system is shown to be robust to false positives when analysing its response on SST images without upwelling.
Computers & Geosciences
Elsevier
Susana Nascimento, Pedro Franco,
Fátima Sousa,
Joaquim Dias,
Filipe Neves and
