Remote Sensing of Solar Radiation Absorbed by Land Surfaces

Dear Colleagues,

The Earth has a complex climate system driven, to a certain extent, by the amount of solar energy absorbed by the surface. This energy absorbed by the Earth’s surface is usually calculated by combining two radiative variables:

• 1/ Global Incoming Solar Radiation at the surface level;
• 2/ Land Surface Albedo.

The global incoming solar radiation, composed of direct and diffuse components, essentially depends on the solar zenith angle, cloud coverage, aerosol load, gas absorption, and land surface albedo over bright surfaces. Land surface albedo has a complex dependency on the surface's properties (e.g., vegetation phenology, soil moisture, and land types).

Solar radiation absorbed by land surfaces is of vital importance for life on Earth, energy balance, and water and carbon cycles (photosynthesis and photochemical reactions). Solar radiation drives meteorological and climatic conditions. It is also the most abundant renewable energy resource. Regular and timely monitoring of surface albedo from local to global scales is vital for determining the radiation exchanges in the continuum of soil–vegetation–atmosphere in the context of a changing climate. Recent studies also show that land cover management has direct impacts on the combination of these two variables, which could play a role in the mitigation of climate change.

With this Special Issue, we will compile state-of-the-art research that addresses the complementary efforts of remote sensing and the modeling of 1/ incoming solar radiation and 2/ land surface albedo.

This Special Issue aims to publish recent developments in obtaining and validating these two variables. Review contributions are welcome, as well as papers showing applications for weather prediction, the energy sector, climate analysis, and the mitigation of the climate. Short communications giving constructive criticisms or discussing/amending previous studies are also welcome.

Dr. Zhuosen Wang
Dr. Dominique Carrer
Dr. Christian Lanconelli
Dr. Angela Erb
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• land surface albedo
• incoming solar radiation
• aerosols, clouds, BRDF
• photovoltaic
• radiative forcing
• validation
• climate change/mitigation
• earth radiation budget
• applications of radiation products