Human and Natural Impacts on Weather and Climate: Air Quality, Land Use, Wind Energy, and Dynamics
A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2026
Special Issue Editor
Interests: human and natural impacts on weather; air quality and climate; land-cover/use impacts on cloud and precipitation formation; pollution in remote locations; wind energy; evaluation of air-quality model results
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Natural impacts on weather and climate include volcanic eruptions, solar activity, cloud condensation nuclei (CCNs) from outer space, continuously changing astronomic factors (e.g., eccentricity, nutation), and the collision of notable-sized asteroids with the Earth.
Human impacts on weather and climate are related to the human needs for shelter, food, water, energy, and clothes. Over the last three decades, various nations have introduced measures to reduce emissions and support energy production via hydro-power, solar, and wind farms. Consequently, solar and wind farms, dammed lakes, and housing, fiber, and food production have undergone massive land-use changes, yielding changes in precipitation levels and patterns. Furthermore, energy harvested for electricity from the atmosphere, dammed water, or the Sun is becoming less available in its original form, hindering the Earth–atmosphere processes.
Over the last three decades, wind stilling has been observed in many regions. Satellite imagery has evidenced increases in temperature downwind of wind farms, and artificial lakes have altered the weather locally. Due to the complexity of the land–atmosphere system and its energy dynamics, understanding the sensitivity of the weather—and the climate in the long term— is critical to better comprehending impacts of systems like wind turbines and their mixing of near-surface air with air from above; solar panels and their altering of the local near-surface energy balance; land-use changes; and altered composition of the atmosphere. Studies must also assess the potential interactions of these changes and determine whether the interactions are linear, nonlinear, offset, or enhance each other. There is also an urgent need to understand the contributions of natural impacts. Therefore, this Special Issue seeks cutting-edge research on the following topics:
- Quantification and reasons for the observed wind stilling and its spatial extent;
- Quantification and reasons for the temperature increases downwind of massive wind farms;
- Impacts of land-use changes for housing, fiber, food, and energy production on the water, energy, and trace gas cycles;
- Potential asteroid impacts, like dimming and land-use changes due to the impact of craters, and the role of collision location and asteroid size.
- The impact of the changing insolation due to the Sun’s activity, astronomic conditions, and volcanic eruptions.
Prof. Dr. Nicole Mölders
Guest Editor
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.
Keywords
- land-use change impacts on the atmosphere
- emissions change effects on precipitation and incoming radiation
- influences of volcanic eruptions
- role of sun activity for weather
- astronomical climate drivers
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
