Toward Adaptive AI for Coastal Systems: Digital Twins, Design and Optimization
A special issue of Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (ISSN 2077-1312). This special issue belongs to the section "Coastal Engineering".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 April 2026 | Viewed by 11
Special Issue Editors
Interests: complex systems science; hydrology; ocean–climate linkages; satellite/remote sensing; oceanography; adaptive planning and management; data-mining models for real-time forecasting
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2. College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Interests: adaptive coastal management; modeling ecosystem services; future development modeling and planning; intelligent geography; AI/ML for marine/coastal systems
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2. College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Interests: big data analysis and modeling; google Earth Engine; R/python; climate change; estuarine fronts; habitat change patterns; trends and regime shifts
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
We invite contributions on adaptive, physics-guided AI for coastal systems design optimization, with an emphasis on learning from observations through the cycle of predicting, comparing, and AI-based updating. We welcome a broad range of studies—from validated applications and hybrid/physics-informed models to digital-twin prototypes—so long as they provide clear skill evaluation through feedback and practical insight. Topics include data assimilation (from satellites, HF radar, in situ/IoT, and numerical models), hindcast/forecast verification and drift detection, fast surrogate models for scenario sweeps and design storms, compound-hazard prediction (surge–tide–wave–rain and river–coast coupling), shoreline and morphodynamic change, sediment transport, and multi-objective design of gray/green infrastructure. Submissions may employ offline recalibration or closed-loop updating where feasible; attention to uncertainty, robustness, and interpretability is encouraged. We also welcome case studies for ports, harbors, estuaries, and deltas, and urban coastal flooding under sea-level rise, provided they establish transparent baselines, report skill with standard metrics, and identify key drivers. End-to-end pipelines—data assimilation and machine-learning operations covering data engineering, training, deployment, monitoring, and AI updating—are most welcome, but partial components that advance practice are equally valuable. Across all paper types (research articles, methods, operational notes, and tutorials/reviews), the emphasis is on reproducibility where possible and on delivering adaptable decision-ready insights for planning, design, and operations.
Dr. Vincent Lyne
Dr. Fengqin Yan
Dr. Dongjie Fu
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. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 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 2600 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
- adaptive coastal management
- physics-guided AI
- digital twins
- design optimization
- compound flooding
- shoreline and morphology change
- data assimilation
- closed-loop learning
- forecast verification and skill
- uncertainty quantification and explainability
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