Earth Observation for Emergency Management
A section of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292).
Section Information
Background and Aim
Natural disasters are increasing in frequency and severity in the modern world, and their impact on human lives and the economy is accelerating due to growing urbanization and increasing frequency of extreme weather events. Disaster management planning is structured around the disaster management cycle model of four stages—mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.
Disaster monitoring and assessment are the most benefited areas by recent advances in satellite and airborne remote sensing. Consistent efforts to find ways to operationally monitor and assess disastrous events, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, storms, floods, and wildfires, are consistently rewarded by integrating advanced remote sensing. Novel techniques in image analysis and the scheduled launch of a series of new sensors with enhanced specifications are also promising for disaster monitoring and assessment, which aims at reducing the risks caused by disasters, providing the public and emergency responders with information that can assist decision making around short-term readiness.
Earth Observation (EO) has been widely applied to post-disaster response, damage assessment, recovery and mitigation, and data collection and processing methods have advanced substantially in recent years. The overall trend toward open data favored by major agencies and programs across the globe enables an unprecedented scale of monitoring and understanding of disaster phenomena, creating the conditions for building complete, accurate, and dynamic pictures of post-disaster situations.
Using satellite and airborne data, regional and global environmental, economic, and societal impacts on the public health (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic) can be assessed. To discover the effects on the environment due to changes in human behavior, remote sensing data can show new trends over time. Human-made and technological hazards are events that are caused by humans and occur in or close to human settlements. They include complex emergencies, conflicts, industrial accidents, transport accidents, environmental degradation, and pollution.
The aim of “Earth Observation for Emergency Management” is to offer a platform to discuss disaster monitoring, assessment, and emergency management caused by natural hazards, such as earthquakes, storms, floods, wildfires, and landslides, and human-made and technological hazards, such as chemical explosion and environmental pollution.
Scope
- Multisensor data fusion for disaster monitoring and decision support
- Novel techniques for remote-sensing-based vulnerability and disaster assessment
- Remote-sensing-based systems for disaster monitoring and forecasting
- Damage assessment and mapping using Earth observation data
- Exposure information and recovery monitoring
- Insurance policies and claim vetting
- Open data and big data and machine learning in risk and damage assessment
- Crowdsourcing and participative sensing
- Human-made and technological hazards
- COVID-19 pandemic, public health, and emergency management
Editorial Board
Special Issues
Following special issues within this section are currently open for submissions:
- Remote Sensing in Hazards Monitoring and Risk Assessment (Deadline: 15 July 2025)
- Advances in Geological Hazard Characterization and Assessment: Merging Remote Sensing with Direct Surveys (Deadline: 31 July 2025)
- Application of Remote Sensing Approaches in Geohazard Risk (Second Edition) (Deadline: 31 July 2025)
- Remote Sensing Methods and Technical Developments in Geohazard Early Warning (Deadline: 30 September 2025)
- Multi-Source Remote Sensing Integrations in Geological Hazards Research (Deadline: 29 October 2025)
- Advancement of Remote Sensing and GIS in Risk Protection for Cultural Heritage (Deadline: 31 October 2025)
- Advances in Remote Sensing for Burned Area Mapping (Deadline: 31 October 2025)
- Landslide Detection Using Machine and Deep Learning (Deadline: 28 November 2025)
- Remote Sensing in Support of Crisis Management: How Space-Based Information Can Support Operations and the Decision-Making Process (Deadline: 30 November 2025)
- Remote Sensing Data for Modeling and Managing Natural Disasters (Deadline: 30 November 2025)
- Geodesy for Geohazards with AI Techniques (Deadline: 31 December 2025)
- Multi-Sensor Remote Sensing and Advanced Computational Frameworks for Landslide Detection and Predictive Modeling (Deadline: 30 January 2026)
- Development and Implementation of Early Detection and Warning Methods for Natural Hazards Utilizing Multi-Source Remote Sensing Data (Deadline: 31 January 2026)
- Earth Observations of Pre-Fire Fuel Conditions for the Prediction of Large-Scale Wildfires: Building Up Operational Systems (Deadline: 31 January 2026)
- Advances in Earth Observation to Improve Flood Disaster Monitoring and Management (Second Edition) (Deadline: 28 February 2026)
