Desert Climate and Environmental Change: From Past to Present

Dear Colleagues,

Drylands constitute approximately 41% of the Earth's land surface, with vast expanses dominated by deserts, including aeolian sand dunes, sand sheets, and desert steppes. As major sources of dust and key pathways for dust transmission, deserts significantly impact regional socioeconomic development and global ecological systems through dust emissions and aeolian processes. Currently, these regions are increasingly affected by unprecedented global changes and human activities. By analyzing various physicochemical and paleontological proxies from geological archives and integrating multi-variable modern meteorological data within desert regions, researchers can reconstruct past and present climate and environmental changes, as well as identify the potential mechanisms driving these shifts. This research is crucial for understanding regional responses to global change.

The aim of this Special Issue is to gather original and innovative research papers that focus on the desert climate and environmental changes from the past to the present, utilizing aeolian sediments, dust materials, and observational data. This Special Issue seeks to offer new insights into the formation and evolution of aeolian geomorphology, past climate and environmental patterns, environmental archeology, human–environment interactions, and climate change impacts on desert regions across various timescales, including the Cenozoic, Late Quaternary, and modern periods. The ultimate goal is to enhance our understanding of desert environmental evolution and its responses to global and regional changes.

We encourage the submission of research manuscripts which focus on, but are not limited to, the discussion of the following topics:

• Aeolian Geomorphology: Studies on wind-driven processes shaping desert landscapes; research on dune formation, migration, and stabilization; investigations into wind-induced soil erosion and its environmental impacts.
• Quaternary Geology and Environmental Evolution: Studies on the evolution and dynamics of desert climates and environments during the Quaternary; research on historical desertification triggered by human activity; investigations into modern aeolian activities and dust emissions, as well as future trajectories.
• Environmental Archeology and Human–Environment Interaction: Studies on human impacts on desert ecosystems throughout history and modern times; explorations of how ancient human communities adapted to desert environments; research on archeological findings that provide insights into human–environment interactions within desert regions.
• Climate Change Impacts: Studies on the spatiotemporal patterns and quantitative methods of climatic factors in desert regions; investigations into extreme climatic and environmental events during geological, historical, and modern periods; research on modeling future climate scenarios and their potential impacts on desert regions.

By integrating these diverse research directions, this Special Issue aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of desert climates and environments, contributing valuable knowledge for sustainable development and environmental protection in arid regions.

Dr. Bing Liu
Dr. Xiaokang Liu
Dr. Zhiyong Ding
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. 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.

• desert environmental evolution
• modern processes on Earth's surface
• quantification of paleoclimatic factors
• aeolian geomorphology
• desert quaternary geology
• human–environment interaction
• environmental archeology
• aeolian activity and dust/sandstorm