Chao Li1,3,#, Jianing Wang1,3,#, Caichang Ding2,*, Zhiwei Ye1,3
CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.86, No.3, 2026, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2025.071242
- 12 January 2026
Abstract Underwater images frequently suffer from chromatic distortion, blurred details, and low contrast, posing significant challenges for enhancement. This paper introduces AquaTree, a novel underwater image enhancement (UIE) method that reformulates the task as a Markov Decision Process (MDP) through the integration of Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) and deep reinforcement learning (DRL). The framework employs an action space of 25 enhancement operators, strategically grouped for basic attribute adjustment, color component balance, correction, and deblurring. Exploration within MCTS is guided by a dual-branch convolutional network, enabling intelligent sequential operator selection. Our core contributions include: (1) a More >