Monitoring Forest Dynamics Using Remote Sensing and Spatial Data
A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Land Systems and Global Change".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2026
Special Issue Editors
Interests: ecological modeling; remote sensing; deep learning; AI; GIS; forest ecosystems; forest resources; landscape ecology; landscape modeling; land-use land-cover change
Interests: system dynamics modeling; landscape planning; ecological restoration, socio-ecological resilience
Interests: forest carbon dynamic model; carbon storage and sequnstration; process-based modeling; vegetation phenology; mangrove forest; coastal forest ecosystems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Forest monitoring refers to the systematic observation, measurement, and assessment of forest conditions and its functionality in various spatio-temporal scales using geospatial information. Remote sensing and geospatial datasets provide an unparalleled means to quantify forest dynamics by generating consistent, repeatable, and multi-resolution observations over the forest ecosystems. These data streams are crucial for assessing forest disturbance, degradation, recovery trajectories, and evaluating long-term forestland change under accelerating climatic and anthropogenic pressures. Advanced remote sensing and spatial analysis technologies, the artificial intelligence, have greatly enhanced the capability of interpreting complex datasets to observe forest ecosystems with high spatio-temporal resolution. Proliferation of AI-based models such as U-Net, CNNs, and transformer architectures enable highly accurate detection of critical events and its impact on forest ecosystems with applying integrated multisource environmental variables. The integration of advanced remote sensing and AI-based analytics improve the early detection of forest hazards allowing agencies to deploy prevention and mitigation strategies.
This Special Issue is to collect papers (original research articles and review papers) to give insights into understanding and responding about various forest dynamics through remote sensing and spatial analysis. We seek contributions that offer methodological innovations, demonstrate applied solutions to forest management challenges, and develop frameworks for adaptive governance that respond to dynamic forest conditions and emerging threats.
This Special Issue will welcome manuscripts that link the following themes:
- Monitoring and analysis of forest dynamics with climatic and anthropogenic factors using advanced remote sensing and spatial analysis techniques.
- The rapid assessment methodologies for remote sensing and spatial analysis in forest hazards and recovery trajectories.
- The land governance and policy schemes in changing the forest ecosystem.
- The methodologies to reclaim environmental policies and implications to respond to the future forest dynamics.
- Landscape modeling for enhancing resilience and ecological infrastructure in urban, coastal, and rural environments.
- Climate change impacts and vulnerability assessment in forest ecosystems.
We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.
Dr. Wonhee Cho
Dr. Min Kim
Dr. Bora Lee
Dr. Nanghyun Cho
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-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land 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
- land degradation trajectories
- forest dynamics under climatic and anthropogenic pressure
- forest evaluation by remote sensing and spatial data
- land cover dynamics in forest landscape
- forest functionality change
- environmental policies and implications
- ecological resilience in crisis
- landscape modeling
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