Middle and Upper Atmosphere Remote Sensing: Theory and Observations
A Special Issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292) belonging to the section "Atmospheric Remote Sensing".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2027 | Viewed by 42
Editors
Interests: remote sensing; atmosphere; Thorpe analysis; radiosonde data
Interests: remote sensing; atmosphere
Interests: meteorology; typhoon; heavy rain; hazardous weather; atmosphere
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The middle and upper atmosphere, encompassing the stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere and ionosphere, serve as the critical interface between the lower atmosphere and outer space. This region, extending from roughly 10 km to several hundred kilometers in altitude, hosts complex interactions among solar radiation, atmospheric dynamics and electromagnetic processes. It shields the biosphere from harmful solar radiation, influences space-based assets, and mediates climate signal propagation. Key phenomena include atmospheric gravity waves, planetary waves, tides, sudden stratospheric warmings and ionospheric disturbances.
Despite its significance, this region remains severely under-sampled due to accessibility challenges. Ground-based instruments including lidar, radar and optical spectrometers, combined with spaceborne sensors, have become essential tools for probing this region. These technologies enable the continuous monitoring of temperature, wind, density and composition across diverse scales. Advancing remote sensing theory and observational capabilities is critical for addressing fundamental questions in atmospheric and space science.
This Special Issue aims to gather innovative research on remote sensing theory, instrumentation and observations for the middle and upper atmosphere. The objective is to showcase methodological advances, novel instruments and significant scientific findings from ground-based and space-based measurements. Contributions bridging theoretical retrieval algorithms with practical applications, and studies exploiting multi-instrument synergies, are particularly encouraged. Research on long-term data harmonization, trend detection and model-observation integration are also welcome.
This topic aligns with the scope of Remote Sensing, which emphasizes remote sensing technology development across Earth system domains. The issue will highlight advances in atmospheric physics and space environment monitoring, with relevance to space weather forecasting, communication systems and aviation safety.
We invite original research, reviews and technical notes on topics including the following:
- retrieval methods for temperature, density and wind from lidar and radar;
- observational techniques for gravity waves, tides and planetary waves;
- multi-instrument studies combining lidar, radar, airglow imagers and satellite data;
- long-term trend analyses in the stratosphere, mesosphere and thermosphere;
- stratospheric dynamics and chemistry;
- stratosphere–troposphere interactions;
- ionospheric remote sensing using ionosondes and other radio techniques;
- space-based observations of composition and dynamics;
- data assimilation integrating observations with models;
- machine learning applications for parameter retrieval.
Submissions demonstrating methodological innovation, strong theoretical grounding or critical reviews are particularly encouraged.
Dr. Qixiang Liao
Prof. Dr. Zheng Sheng
Prof. Dr. Xiaogang Huang
Dr. Peng Guo
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.
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-anonymized 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
- middle atmosphere
- upper atmosphere
- lidar remote sensing
- radar remote sensing
- atmospheric dynamics
- gravity waves
- ionosphere
- temperature and wind retrieval
- satellite observations
- space weather
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