Advances in Remote Sensing for Monitoring Agricultural Land Use and Land Cover Change Under a Changing Climate

Dear Colleagues,

The monitoring of agricultural systems has become increasingly important amid global challenges, including climate change, biodiversity loss, population growth, and rising demand for agricultural products. Developing high-resolution, national-scale maps of agricultural land is essential for formulating strategies that support sustainable agriculture. Nevertheless, characterizing agricultural land cover across extensive areas and over multiple years remains challenging due to the high spatial heterogeneity and temporal variability of cultivated land.

Fortunately, advances in sensor technologies and Geo-AI—particularly machine and deep learning—have revolutionized the analysis of Earth observation data. Integrating these algorithms with multi-source satellite imagery allows us to detect, classify, and predict land surface dynamics with unprecedented accuracy. This capability is critical for capturing subtle, climate-driven shifts in vegetation phenology, land–climate interactions, and agricultural productivity. Because these environmental fluctuations often impact broader socioeconomic and urban structures, applying robust Geo-AI frameworks to analyze these dynamics is of paramount importance.

This Special Issue (SI) invites multidisciplinary scientists to contribute innovative remote sensing techniques and data-driven Geo-AI frameworks. We seek to advance the understanding of how climate extremes and long-term climate change impact land use and land cover (LULC) dynamics. Particular emphasis will be placed on vegetation responses, agricultural land transformations, and shifts in crop productivity, ultimately contributing to informed, sustainable land management strategies.

This Special Issue will welcome manuscripts that link the following themes:

• Geo-AI frameworks for environmental monitoring and assessment;
• Land–climate interactions and socio-ecological impacts;
• Climate-induced shifts in land cover and vegetation phenology;
• GIS-based modeling of urban climate and agro-environmental changes;
• Data-driven approaches for sustainable climate adaptation strategies;
• Multi-sensor data fusion (e.g., optical, hyperspectral, and SAR);
• Climate extremes and agricultural vulnerability.

We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.

Dr. Mustafa Ustuner
Dr. Elhadi Adam
Dr. Siti Aekbal
Dr. Anang Wahyu Sejati
Prof. Dr. Admir Mulahusić
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.

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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.