Region-based L0 gradient minimization for PolSAR image segmentation

In order that global, dominant, and complete outlines of land covers are delineated, in this paper, we propose a regularized L₀ gradient minimization method which is specially developed for segmenting polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) images, and present a region-based stepwise design to implement it. The performance of the proposed method is tested and analyzed on two experimental data sets, with visual presentation as well as numerical evaluation. They both confirm that the proposed method achieves its principal goal and demonstrate its availability and advantage as a pre-processing step for PolSAR image interpretation chains.