Underwater image restoration using single color channel prior

Recovering dehazed image from the single underwater image has always been a challenging task. Inspired from dark channel prior, we extend it further to dehaze the underwater images using a single color channel. The red color component undergoes maximum attenuation on account of the longest wavelength and dominates the dark channel prior in the underwater scenario. We developed the algorithm based on the red color channel, and obtained depth map using morphological operation. The proposed approach significantly restores the color, minimizes the effect of haze and improves the contrast. Experimental results based on qualitative and quantitative analysis exhibits that the proposed method performs efficiently as compared to existing dehazing algorithms.