Sand and Dust Storms’ Environmental and Ecosystem Impacts

Dear Colleagues,

Nowadays, sand and dust storms (SDS) are considered a global issue across a wide range of environmental conditions and research disciplines. Over the last three decades, the frequency and severity of SDS have intensified in many catchments across arid and semi-arid regions of the world, due to anthropogenic activities such as climate change, land use/land cover change, and natural factors such as periodic droughts. This phenomenon has many effects on the biotic and abiotic components of Earth's ecosystems. A comprehensive literature review conducted by our editors revealed major knowledge gaps on the subject of SDS impacts on the environment and ecosystems, as well as their analyses. Accordingly, this Special Issue (SI) aims to provide a comprehensive scientific basis for modeling, monitoring, and evaluating the effects of SDS on various components of the Earth’s systems (hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere).  In the framework of this Special Issue, entitled “Sand and Dust Storms’ Environmental and Ecosystem Impacts”, we seek contributions that provide a comprehensive scientific basis to better enable adaptation policies, mitigation plans, and management strategies, as well as to facilitate the sustainable development of ecosystems. More specifically, the focus of the Special Issue is to cover the impacts/effects of SDS on the various dimensions of natural and human-managed environments and ecosystems, including:

• Interactions of SDS and climate change;
• Investigations of the role of land use/land cover change and SDS;
• Interactions and impacts of SDS on plants/vegetation;
• The biomass productivity and agriculture under the stress of SDS;
• The detection, monitoring and forecasting of SDS, including early warnings;
• Spatial-temporal modeling of SDS issues by Geo-AI, machine learning, and remote sensing;
• SDS impacts on:
• Water resources (lakes, wetlands, dam reservoirs, etc.);
• Atmospheric parameters (cloud formation, precipitation, temperature, evapotranspiration, radiative forcing, etc.);
• Soil and its microorganisms;
• Biogeochemical cycles in water and soil;
• Vegetation (forest, rangelands, and agriculture);
• Human societies and other living organisms;
• Ecosystem productivity.

We welcome the submission of original research papers, reviews, and methods, including (but not limited to) research on all aspects of the above-mentioned topics.

Dr. Ali Darvishi Boloorani
Prof. Dr. Alfredo Huete
Prof. Dr. Alireza Rashki
Dr. Najmeh Neysani Samany
Guest Editors

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