From Numerical Weather Prediction to Air Quality Forecasting: Integrating Models and AI

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue, entitled “From Numerical Weather Prediction to Air Quality Forecasting: Integrating Models and AI”, aims to provide a comprehensive overview of recent advances in atmospheric modeling frameworks that integrate studies of meteorology with air quality prediction. The subject of this Special Issue lies at the core of contemporary atmospheric sciences, as accurate air quality forecasts critically depend on reliable numerical weather prediction (NWP) and on the effective representation of physical and chemical processes governing pollutant transport, transformation, and removal.

Rapid developments in observational capabilities, including surface monitoring networks, satellite products, reanalysis datasets, and emerging low-cost sensor technologies, have led to an unprecedented increase in data volume and complexity. In parallel, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and deep learning methods are increasingly being adopted to complement traditional deterministic and statistical approaches. These techniques offer new pathways for improving forecast accuracy, bias correction, downscaling, data assimilation, uncertainty estimation, and computational efficiency, while supporting both research-oriented and operational air quality forecasting systems.

The Special Issue focuses on the integration of NWP models, chemical transport models, and AI-based methodologies, emphasizing hybrid and interdisciplinary approaches. It aims to gather high-quality original research and review articles addressing methodological innovations, model evaluation, and real-world applications, including extreme air pollution events, early warning systems, and decision support tools relevant to air quality management and public health.

Dr. Rafaella Eleni P. Sotiropoulou
Dr. Efthimios Tagaris
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. Atmosphere is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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.