Satellite Geodesy and Earth System Monitoring

Dear Colleagues,

We are excited to announce a Special Issue of Applied Sciences, titled "Satellite Geodesy and Earth System Monitoring". The goal of this Special Issue is to highlight the role of satellite geodesy in various Earth science fields and to promote its interdisciplinary nature.

In recent years, satellite technology and sensor advancements have enabled the collection of vast amounts of high-quality, uniform data, with exceptional global coverage. These advances have significantly improved the precision of geodesy, allowing us to accurately estimate positions, coordinates, and the gravity field of Earth, along with its temporal variations. These developments offer new opportunities to monitor and understand the Earth systems more effectively.

Satellite geodesy is crucial for advancing our understanding of how Earth systems function and evolve. Interdisciplinary research is essential in this context, as it provides fresh perspectives and approaches to studying our planet. By utilizing satellite data across Earth sciences, we can manage resources, energy supplies, and ecosystems more effectively, guiding us towards a more sustainable, safer, and healthier future.

We invite high-quality papers that explore the applications of satellite geodesy in Earth system monitoring, particularly ones that foster interdisciplinary approaches and new insights into Earth's dynamic processes.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the time-dependent applications of satellite geodesy in:

1. Meteorology and Atmospheric Modelling: Monitoring temporal variations in atmospheric phenomena, including ionospheric and tropospheric conditions, and their impacts on weather patterns, climate change, and atmospheric pressure shifts using GNSS and satellite-based systems. Studying how space weather variations (e.g., solar flares, geomagnetic storms) dynamically affect GNSS signals and positioning accuracy over time, influencing long-term Earth system observations.
2. Hydrology and Temporal Water Cycle Variability: Tracking changes in groundwater levels, terrestrial water storage, river flow, and hydrological extremes (such as floods, droughts, or water scarcity) over time using satellite geodesy techniques, including GRACE, SWOT, and radar altimetry.
3. Oceanography and Cryosphere: Monitoring temporal changes in sea levels, ocean currents, and dynamic ocean circulation patterns using satellite altimetry and geodetic methods to track both seasonal and long-term oceanic fluctuations. Additionally, tracking changes in glaciers, ice sheets, and snow cover, including ice mass loss or gain, with satellite altimetry, GRACE, and other remote sensing tools.
4. Geodynamics: Monitoring the temporal evolution of Earth’s surface deformation, including tectonic plate movements, fault slip, earthquake-induced displacement, and post-seismic deformation using GNSS, InSAR, and satellite-based geodetic data. This also includes tracking land subsidence and surface deformation due to natural or human-induced activities (e.g., groundwater extraction, mining, infrastructure development). Additionally, satellite geodesy helps study Earth’s rotation and orientation and provides real-time monitoring for tsunami prediction.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Mehdi Eshagh
Dr. Robert Tenzer
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences 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 2400 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.

• geodesy
• earth system monitoring
• geodynamics
• satellite gravimetry