Recent Advances and Future Vision for Remote Sensing of Hazards in Cultural and Natural Heritage

Dear Colleagues,

Cultural and natural heritage faces diverse threats from both natural and anthropogenic factors. Cultural heritage, encompassing archaeological sites, buildings, monuments, and natural heritage, including natural features, landscapes, biodiversity, and geodiversity, hold significant aesthetic, ecological, historical, and social values. To preserve these invaluable assets, advanced, innovative, and cost-effective methods for representative and systematic monitoring are essential.

This Special Issue aims to focus on the cutting-edge technologies and future perspectives in the applicability of remote sensing approaches to safeguard both cultural and natural heritage. It aims to highlight recent developments in satellite imagery, drone-based surveillance, LiDAR, and other advanced remote sensing techniques (e.g., aerial and terrestrial 3D photogrammetry, laser scanning, geophysics, sensors, and augmented reality) for detecting and monitoring hazards that threaten cultural and natural heritage.

Various threats can be addressed, including the following:

• Environmental factors: climate change, chemical pollutants, and sea level rise.
• Natural disasters: earthquakes, landslides, wildfires, and floods.
• Human-induced challenges: urbanization, land use change, and atmospheric pollution.

By bringing together contributions from fields such as remote sensing, geology, environmental science, archaeology and disaster management, this Special Issue fosters an interdisciplinary approach to understanding, monitoring, and mitigating these threats. It emphasises the preservation and conservation of heritage sites and the protection of natural heritage by presenting case studies, practical applications, and successful implementation strategies.

Additionally, the Special Issue explores the future directions in remote sensing, with emphasis on non-destructive techniques, discussing innovative methodologies and the emerging cutting-edge technologies that could enhance hazard detection and monitoring of the degradation of cultural and natural heritage for effective response and mitigation activities. It serves as a platform for researchers and policymakers to exchange knowledge, share expertise, and develop collaborative strategies for the protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage worldwide.

Dr. Athanasios V. Argyriou
Dr. Dante Abate
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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