Radiative Transfer Modeling and Vegetation Traits Retrieved by Multispectral Remote Sensing
A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292). This special issue belongs to the section "Remote Sensing in Agriculture and Vegetation".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 November 2025 | Viewed by 12
Special Issue Editors
Interests: quantitative remote sensing of agriculture
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: agricultural remote sensing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: quantitative remote sensing of vegetation; crop phenotypes; ecosystem remote sensing
Interests: LiDAR remote sensing; vegetation remote sensing; point cloud intelligent processing
Interests: GeoAI; remote sensing image super-resolution; digital twin
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Since the 1970s, radiative transfer models (RTMs) have evolved from simple homogeneous turbid medium models (e.g., the SAIL model) to advanced frameworks that are capable of accurately representing complex canopy structures and optical properties. Early RTMs simplified canopies as continuous turbid media to simulate radiation absorption, scattering, and transmission. Advances in computational power and the understanding of vegetation optics have since enabled 3D canopy structure modeling, greatly enhancing RTM precision and applicability for quantitative vegetation trait retrieval.
Meanwhile, multispectral remote sensing technology has provided a rich data foundation for RTMs. By capturing surface reflectance across spectral bands, it enables the extraction of vegetation traits such as chlorophyll content, leaf area index (LAI), and canopy cover—critical for ecological monitoring, precision agriculture, and climate assessments.
Integrating RTMs with multispectral remote sensing improves vegetation trait retrieval accuracy and addresses the challenges relating to environmental heterogeneity. This synergy advances vegetation monitoring technologies, supporting ecological research, environmental management, and sustainable development. Studies on RTM integration with emerging platforms, multisource data fusion, and diverse ecological applications are highly encouraged.
Articles may address, but are not limited, to the following topics:
- Radiative transfer model (RTM) development and applications;
- Three-dimensional canopy structure modeling and simulation;
- Integration of RTMs with multispectral remote sensing;
- Vegetation trait retrieval using RTMs;
- Precision agriculture supported by RTMs and remote sensing;
- RTM application in climate change studies;
- Advancements in vegetation optical property modeling;
- Emerging remote sensing platforms and RTM integration;
- Multisource data fusion and synergy of RTMs in vegetation monitoring;
- Radiative transfer models and data-driven integration;
- Leaf trait retrieval on multisource data fusion.
Dr. Dan Li
Dr. Weiping Kong
Dr. Nanfeng Liu
Dr. Jing Liu
Dr. Yue Shi
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
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. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2700 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
- radiative transfer models (RTMs)
- vegetation trait retrieval
- three-dimensional canopy structure modeling
- data-driven integration
- multispectral remote sensing
- climate change studies
- multisource data synergy
- RTMs and remote sensing integration
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