Announcements

We are proud to recognize the winners of MDPI’s 2021 Travel Awards in the “Environmental & Earth Sciences” category for their outstanding presentations and to present them with the prize.

MDPI journals regularly offer travel awards to encourage talented junior scientists to present their latest research at academic conferences in specific fields, which helps to increase their influence.

The winners mentioned below were carefully selected by the journal editors based on an outline of their research and the work to be presented at an academic conference.

We would like to warmly congratulate the Travel Awards winners for the year 2021 and wish them the greatest success with their future research endeavors. MDPI will continue to enhance communication among scientists.

Atmosphere:

• Charbel Harb, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, USA
• Jibran Khan, Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark

Climate:

• Agostino Niyonkuru Meroni, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
• Platon Patlakas, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece

Energies:

• Nnaemeka Vincent Emodi, University of Tasmania, Australia
• Irene Poza-Casado, Universidad de Valladolid, Spain

Forests:

• Pipiet Larasatie, Oregon State University, USA
• Tania L. Maxwell, French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), France

Hydrology:

• Georgia Papacharalampous, Roma Tre University, Italy
• Mattei Alexandra, University of Corsica, France

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health:

• Danila Azzolina, University of Eastern Piedmont, Italy
• Kelvin Fong, Yale University, USA
• Levi Frehlich, University of Calgary, Canada‎
• Garyfallos Konstantinoudis, Imperial College London, UK

ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information:

• Junghwan Kim, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
• Xuke Hu, Institute of Data Science, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Germany

Land:

• Álvaro Castilla Beltrán, University of La Laguna, Spain
• Lauren Nerfa, University of Hawaiʻi, USA

Remote Sensing:

• Amen Al-Yaari, Sorbonne University, France
• Meng Lu, Utrecht University, Netherlands

Resources:

• Alessandro Lenci, University of Bologna, Italy
• Evangelia Georgantzia, Liverpool John Moores University, UK

Sustainability:

• Sayyed Rasoul Khayyam Nekouei, University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia
• Georgia A. Papacharalampous, Roma Tre University, Italy
• Raquel Filipa da Costa Viveiros, NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal
• Rajesh Pathak, South Dakota State University, USA

Water:

• Nnanake-Abasi Okon Offiong, University of Uyo, Nigeria
• Tonni Agustiono Kurniawan, Polytechnic of Health, Indonesia
• Shawna Andrea Foo, Arizona State University, USA

The purpose of our Best Paper Awards is to promote and recognize the most impactful contributions published within MDPI journals.

The editors of each journal carefully selected reviews and research papers through a rigorous judging process based on criteria such as the scientific merit, overall impact, and the quality of presentation of the papers published in the journal last year.

We are honored to present the winners in the subject areas of “Environmental & Earth Sciences”, who were selected amongst extensive competition, and congratulate the authors for their outstanding scientific publications.

MDPI will continue to provide support and recognition to the academic community.

Geosciences:

• “Distinguishing between Deep-Water Sediment Facies: Turbidites, Contourites and Hemipelagites”
  by Dorrik Stow and Zeinab Smillie
  Geosciences 2020, 10(2), 68. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences10020068
• “Review of Explosive Hydrovolcanism”
  by Károly Németh and Szabolcs Kósiks
  Geosciences 2020, 10(2), 44. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences10020044

Remote Sensing:

• “A Review on Deep Learning Techniques for 3D Sensed Data Classification”
  by David Griffiths and Jan Boehm
  Remote Sens. 2019, 11(12), 1499. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11121499
• “Satellite Remote Sensing of Precipitation and the Terrestrial Water Cycle in a Changing Climate”
  by Vincenzo Levizzani and Elsa Cattani
  Remote Sens. 2019, 11(19), 2301. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11192301
• “Evaluation of Different Machine Learning Methods and Deep-Learning Convolutional Neural Networks for Landslide Detection”
  by Omid Ghorbanzadeh, Thomas Blaschke, Khalil Gholamnia, Sansar Raj Meena, Dirk Tiede and Jagannath Aryal
  Remote Sens. 2019, 11(2), 196. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11020196
• “An Integrated View of Greenland Ice Sheet Mass Changes Based on Models and Satellite Observations”
  by Ruth Mottram, Sebastian B. Simonsen, Synne Høyer Svendsen, Valentina R. Barletta, Louise Sandberg Sørensen, Thomas Nagler, Jan Wuite, Andreas Groh, Martin Horwath, Job Rosier, Anne Solgaard, Christine S. Hvidberg and Rene Forsberg
  Remote Sens. 2019, 11(12), 1407. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11121407
• “UAV-Based High Resolution Thermal Imaging for Vegetation Monitoring, and Plant Phenotyping Using ICI 8640 P, FLIR Vue Pro R 640, and thermoMap Cameras”
  by Vasit Sagan, Maitiniyazi Maimaitijiang, Paheding Sidike, Kevin Eblimit, Kyle T. Peterson, Sean Hartling, Flavio Esposito, Kapil Khanal, Maria Newcomb, Duke Pauli, Rick Ward, Felix Fritschi, Nadia Shakoor and Todd Mockler
  Remote Sens. 2019, 11(3), 330. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11030330

Toxics:

• “A Review of Biomonitoring of Phthalate Exposures”
  by Wang, Yu, Hongkai Zhu and Kurunthachalam Kannan
  Toxics 2019, 7(2), 21; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics7020021
• “Trace Element Uptake by Herbaceous Plants from the Soils at a Multiple Trace Element-Contaminated Site”
  by Nworie, Obinna E., Junhao Qin and Chuxia Lin
  Toxics 2019, 7(1), 3; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics7010003

Water:

• “Water Quality Indices: Challenges and Application Limits in the Literature”
  by Moez Kachroud, Fabienne Trolard, Mohamed Kefi, Sihem Jebari and Guilhem Bourrié
  Water 2019, 11(2), 361. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11020361
• “A Brief Review of Random Forests for Water Scientists and Practitioners and Their Recent History in Water Resources”
  by Hristos Tyralis, Georgia Papacharalampous and Andreas Langousis
  Water 2019, 11(5), 910. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11050910
• “The Use of Non-Conventional Water Resources as a Means of Adaptation to Drought and Climate Change in Semi-Arid Regions: South-Eastern Spain”
  by Álvaro-Francisco Morote, Jorge Olcina and María Hernández
  Water 2019, 11(1), 93. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11010093
• “Hydrological Effectiveness of an Extensive Green Roof in Mediterranean Climate” 
  by Stefania Anna Palermo, Michele Turco, Francesca Principato and Patrizia Piro
  Water 2019, 11(7), 1378. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11071378
• “Forecasting Groundwater Table in a Flood Prone Coastal City with Long Short-term Memory and Recurrent Neural Networks”
  by Benjamin D. Bowes, Jeffrey M. Sadler, Mohamed M. Morsy, Madhur Behl and Jonathan L. Goodall
  Water 2019, 11(5), 1098. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11051098
• “Effectiveness of Rainwater Harvesting Systems for Flood Reduction in Residential Urban Areas”
  by Gabriele Frenib and Lorena Liuzzo
  Water 2019, 11(7), 1389. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11071389

The 2021 citation metrics have been officially released in Scopus!

We are pleased to announce that 182 MDPI journals are included, of which:

● 21 journals received their first CiteScore.
● 85% of journals increased their CiteScore from 2020.
● 155 journals (85%) ranked above average, in at least one category.

The following 65 MDPI journals (36%) ranked among the top 25% of journals, in at least one category:

Source: 2021 CiteScores™ (Elsevier)

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new initiative—the Quaternary Special Issue Mentor Program.

This program intends to provide an opportunity for early career scientists to enhance their editing, networking, and organizational skills and to work closely with our journal to gain more editorial experience. Early career scientists who have novel ideas for new Quaternary Special Issues will act as Guest Editors under the mentorship of an experienced scientist; this mentor could be a member of the Editorial Board of Quaternary (ISSN 2571-550X), from other well-established research institutes or laboratories, among others.

The mentee’s responsibilities include:

• Providing a CV, including a list of publications;
• Proposing a Special Issue title and a short introduction;
• Writing a brief promotion plan for the Special Issue;
• Writing an editorial for the online Special Issue;
• Reviewing and making decisions for submissions under the mentorship of our Editorial Board Members.

The mentor’s responsibilities include:

• Conducting a final check before the Special Issue is published online;
• Co-editing the Special Issue with younger scholars and performing quality control of the publications in the Special Issue;
• Providing suggestions to younger scholars if they have doubts or concerns regarding submissions;
• Organizing video calls with young scholars and the office regularly to discuss problems and improvement suggestions for the Special Issue.

Certificates and awards:
When the Special Issue is closed, the Editorial Office will provide official certificates for all the mentors. The younger scholars will be prioritized as candidates for the Quaternary Young Investigator Awards in future editions.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please send your Special Issue proposal to the Quaternary Editorial Office (quaternary@mdpi.com), and we will discuss the process (mentor collaboration, Special Issue topic feasibility analysis, etc.) in further detail.

In addition to the new Special Issue Mentor Program, Quaternary continually welcomes all Special Issue proposals based on hot research topics as usual.

We are currently recruiting Topical Advisory Panel Members for Quaternary (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/quaternary/topical_advisory_panel).

Quaternary (ISSN 2571-550X) is an international peer-reviewed open access journal published quarterly online by MDPI, which provides rapid publication of geological, geographical, biological, physical, chemical, environmental, and human sciences, with particular emphasis on new or significantly improved research results.

The benefits of becoming a Topical Advisory Panel Member include the following:

• The opportunity to publish one paper per year with a discount in Quaternary, as well as potential discounts for additional papers you invite;
• A certificate in recognition of your position;
• Additional sponsorships for conferences organized by Topical Advisory Panel Members of Quaternary;
• Travel grants for conferences that you attend or organize.

To qualify as a Topical Advisory Panel Member, applicants must:

• Have experience in a field related to the journal;
• Have completed their Ph.D. within approximately the last 10 years;
• Have published at least 6 papers in the last 5 years, as a first author or corresponding author;
• Currently hold an independent research position in academia or a government institute.

More information on the responsibilities of the Topical Advisory Panel is available at the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/editors#Supporting_Editor_Responsibilities.

If you are interested in this position, please apply via the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/quaternary/topical_advisory_panel_application, or send an email to quaternary@mdpi.com with your academic CV. We look forward to hearing from you!

“Lake Sedimentary DNA Research on Past Terrestrial and Aquatic Biodiversity: Overview and Recommendations”
Eric Capo et al.
Quaternary 2021, 4(1), 6; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat4010006
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/4/1/6 

“Disentangling Domestication from Food Production Systems in the Neotropics”
Charles R. Clement et al.
Quaternary 2021, 4(1), 4; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat4010004
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/4/1/4 

“Prey Size Decline as a Unifying Ecological Selecting Agent in Pleistocene Human Evolution”
Miki Ben-Dor et al.
Quaternary 2021, 4(1), 7; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat4010007
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/4/1/7 

“Early Grain Cultivation and Starting Processes in the Japanese Archipelago”
Shin’ichiro Fujio
Quaternary 2021, 4(1), 3; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat4010003
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/4/1/3 

“Dating of the Lower Pleistocene Vertebrate Site of Tsiotra Vryssi (Mygdonia Basin, Greece): Biochronology, Magnetostratigraphy, and Cosmogenic Radionuclides”
George E. Konidaris et al.
Quaternary 2021, 4(1), 1; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat4010001
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/4/1/1 

“Reconsidering the Equids from the Early Pleistocene Fauna of Apollonia 1 (Mygdonia Basin, Greece)”
Anastasia G. Gkeme et al.
Quaternary 2021, 4(2), 12; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat4020012
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/4/2/12 

“Human Activities, Biostratigraphy and Past Environment Revealed by Small-Mammal Associations at the Chalcolithic Levels of El Portalón de Cueva Mayor (Atapuerca, Spain)”
Juan Rofes et al.
Quaternary 2021, 4(2), 16; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat4020016
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/4/2/16 

“Ethnoarchaeology of Introducing Agriculture and Social Continuity among Sedentarised Hunter–Gatherers: The Transition from the Jomon to the Yayoi Period”
Kazunobu Ikeya
Quaternary 2021, 4(3), 28; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat4030028
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/4/3/28 

“Late Middle—Early Late Pleistocene Mammoths from the Lower Don River Region (Russia)”
Vera S. Baigusheva et al.
Quaternary 2021, 4(1), 5; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat4010005
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/4/1/5

“History of Mid- and Late Holocene Palaeofloods in the Yangtze Coastal Lowlands, East China: Evaluation of Non-Pollen Palynomorph Evidence, Review and Synthesis”
James B. Innes et al.
Quaternary 2021, 4(3), 21; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat4030021
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/4/3/21

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Quaternary 2018–2019 Best Paper Awards, sponsored by MDPI and Quaternary (ISSN 2571-550X). Each winner (corresponding author) will receive CHF 300 and a chance to publish a paper free of charge in Quaternary in 2022. 

The awards have been granted to: 

“Erosive Response of Non-Glaciated Pyrenean Headwater Catchments to the Last Major Climate Transition and Establishing Interglacial Conditions”
by Kurt Martin Stange, Ivar Midtkandal, Johan Petter Nystuen, Andrew Murray, Reza Sohbati, Warren Thompson, Cornelia Spiegel and Hans-Joachim Kuss
Quaternary 2019, 2(2), 17; doi:10.3390/quat2020017

“Last Interglacial Climate in Northern Sweden—Insights from a Speleothem Record”
by Martin Finné, Sakari Salonen, Norbert Frank, Karin F. Helmens, Andrea Schröder-Ritzrau, Michael Deininger and Steffen Holzkämper
Quaternary 2019, 2(3), 29; doi:10.3390/quat2030029

“Climatically Controlled River Terraces in Eastern Australia”
by James S. Daley and Tim J. Cohen
Quaternary 2018, 1(3), 23; doi:10.3390/quat1030023

“Dropstones in Lacustrine Sediments as a Record of Snow Avalanches—A Validation of the Proxy by Combining Satellite Imagery and Varve Chronology at Kenai Lake (South-Central Alaska)”
by Sien Thys, Maarten Van Daele, Nore Praet, Britta J.L. Jensen, Thomas Van Dyck, Peter J. Haeussler, Elke Vandekerkhove, Veerle Cnudde and Marc De Batist
Quaternary 2019, 2(1), 11; doi:10.3390/quat2010011 

“From Climatic to Anthropogenic Drivers: A Multi-Proxy Reconstruction of Vegetation and Peatland Development in the French Jura Mountains”
by Emilie Gauthier, Vincent E.J. Jassey, Edward A.D. Mitchell, Mariusz Lamentowicz, Richard Payne, Frédéric Delarue, Fatima Laggoun-Defarge, Daniel Gilbert and Hervé Richard
Quaternary 2019, 2(4), 38; doi:10.3390/quat2040038 

On behalf of the Assessment Committee, we would like to congratulate the winners on their accomplishments. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the nominated research groups of the above exceptional papers for their contributions to Quaternary and the Award Committee for voting and providing assistance with these awards.

The multi-faceted nature and intriguing evolutionary history of mammals have led to today's biodiversity and biogeographic environment, which are intertwined with paleogeography, climate, and environmental changes. This quaternary period recorded the most dramatic changes in the Earth’s climate system. This is of special significance when examining the causal factors leading to the gradual reconstruction of mammalian communities as well as to changes in biogeography and biodiversity. The paper titled "The Preliminary Analysis of Cave Lion Cubs Panthera spelaea (Goldfuss, 1810) from the Permafrost of Siberia" published in Quaternary (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/quaternary) has attracted widespread attention in academia and has been reported by CNN and other media.

The Pleistocene Arctic region of Siberia is full of large mammals, including the cave lion (Panthera spelaea), which is at the top of the terrestrial ecosystem. This article provides a preliminary description of the well-preserved frozen mummies of two cubs of extinct cave lions. The lioness is named "Sparta", and the male lion is named "Boris". It is worth noting that these two lion cubs are quite intact. Their claws are still sharp, their fur is still finished, and even their beards are preserved as if they were just asleep. The two lion cubs lived in different ages, but their individual ages are similar, with both of the cubs being 1 to 2 months old. Researchers conducted microbiological testing and infectious disease testing on the two lion cubs. Additionally, they analyzed the morphology using computer tomography, radioactive dating, pathological testing, genetic identification, and other methods to detect and analyze the lion cubs in all aspects and to explore the living environment of the cave lion and the possible causes of death, the predator structure, and social structure, etc.

For more details, please visit the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/4/3/24/htm.

This article is included in the Special Issue "Advances in Quaternary Studies: The Contribution of Mammalian Fossil Record II", Guest Editor: Prof. Dr. Maria Rita Palombo.

Special Issue information:

This Special Issue "Progress in Quaternary Research: The Contributions of Mammal Fossil Record II" aims to introduce the latest technology and diversity in the field as well as the most advanced research on fauna dynamics, with the purpose of assessing species' contributions to quaternary climate change, the importance of response, and the evolution of the scene in terms of time and space.

Similarly, deciphering the complex mechanism network of the evolution of fauna is of vital importance for understanding the practical significance of the so-called sixth mass extinction and for planning appropriate biodiversity conservation actions in the context of climate warming. This Special Issue allows our imaginations to go beyond the present and to gather insights into the future scenarios of the earth's ecosystem by collecting lessons from the past.

We invite you to scan the QR code below to read more related articles.

“Diatoms in Paleoenvironmental Studies of Peatlands”
Rafael Carballeira et al.
Quaternary 2020, 3(2), 10; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3020010
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/2/10 

“A Top-to-Bottom Luminescence-Based Chronology for the Post-LGM Regression of a Great Basin Pluvial Lake”
Jeffrey S. Munroe et al.
Quaternary 2020, 3(2), 11; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3020011
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/2/11 

“Quaternary Permafrost in China: Framework and Discussions”
Huijun Jin et al.
Quaternary 2020, 3(4), 32; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3040032
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/4/32 

“Detection and Characterisation of Eemian Marine Tephra Layers within the Sapropel S5 Sediments of the Aegean and Levantine Seas”
Christopher Satow et al.
Quaternary 2020, 3(1), 6; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3010006
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/1/6 

“Between Foragers and Farmers: Climate Change and Human Strategies in Northwestern Patagonia”
Adolfo F. Gil et al.
Quaternary 2020, 3(2), 17; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3020017
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/2/17 

“Rethinking the Disappearance of Microblade Technology in the Terminal Pleistocene of Hokkaido, Northern Japan: Looking at Archaeological and Palaeoenvironmental Evidence”
Jun Takakura
Quaternary 2020, 3(3), 21; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3030021
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/3/21 

“The Climate Fluctuation of the 8.2 ka BP Cooling Event and the Transition into Neolithic Lifeways in North China”
Chao Zhao
Quaternary 2020, 3(3), 23; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3030023
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/3/23 

“Late Quaternary Climate Variability and Change from Aotearoa New Zealand Speleothems: Progress in Age Modelling, Oxygen Isotope Master Record Construction and Proxy-Model Comparisons”
Andrew M. Lorrey et al.
Quaternary 2020, 3(3), 24; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3030024
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/3/24 

“Modern Analogue Approach Applied to High-Resolution Varved Sediments—A Synthesis for Lake Montcortès (Central Pyrenees)”
Teresa Vegas-Vilarrúbia et al.
Quaternary 2020, 3(1), 1; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3010001
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/1/1 

“The Role of El Niño in Driving Drought Conditions over the Last 2000 Years in Thailand”
Katherine Power et al.
Quaternary 2020, 3(2), 18; https://doi.org/10.3390/quat3020018
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-550X/3/2/18

It is our great honor to congratulate the Editorial Board Members and Editors in MDPI's journals who have been distinguished as 2021 Highly Cited Researchers by Clarivate, according to Web of Science data. We herewith express our gratitude for the immense impact the named researchers continue to make on scientific progress and on our journals' development.

Clarivate's annual list of Highly Cited Researchers^TM identifies the most highly cited scientists for the past decade. Their impactful papers are among the top 1 per cent in the citation distribution of one or more of 22 fields analyzed in the "Essential Science Indicators", distinguishing them as hugely influential among their peers.

The full list of 2021 Highly Cited Researchers  can be accessed at the following webpage in the Web of Science^TM https://recognition.webofscience.com/awards/highly-cited/2021/.

--- Highly Cited Researchers (HCR) is a Clarivate product.