An efficient algorithm to plot flooded intertidal areas

The efficient display of flooding in intertidal zones is crucial to coastal applications (e.g., coastal zone management and anti-flood directing systems). This paper proposes a new algorithm to plot flooded intertidal areas. Initially, a digital tide-coordinated shoreline (DTS) is traced on the basis of creating a digital intertidal zone model (DIZM) and an instantaneous water surface model (IWSM). Then unconnected depressions are obtained depending on the type of DTS. At the same time, the algorithm detects unconnected depressions by considering the influences of the changing water level, and creates an index from different water levels to corresponding depressions. Finally, unconnected depressions are effectively handled and flooded areas are plotted correctly. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm results in a more accurate and efficient display than with traditional algorithms.