Remote Sensing in Water Quality Monitoring

Dear Colleagues,

Good water quality is critical for sustaining aquatic biodiversity and ensuring the safety of drinking water. However, accurately monitoring water quality across broad spatial and temporal scales remains a significant challenge, as traditional in situ measurements typically yield limited data points and are often time-consuming and labor-intensive, lacking the capacity to resolve the spatiotemporal dynamics of pollutant transport and its sources. Space-based remote sensing technologies (including satellite and airborne platforms) have made it possible to monitor a wide range of water quality parameters on a large spatial scale, including both optically active constituents (e.g., chlorophyll-a, suspended sediment concentration, turbidity, colored dissolved organic matter, and water clarity), and even non-optically parameters (e.g., total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and dissolved oxygen) through advanced retrieval algorithms. These technologies enable repeatable, cost-effective, and synoptic observations, making them indispensable for both long-term water quality monitoring and for rapid responses to emerging threats such as water pollution events. Emerging ground-based monitoring technologies, particularly proximal sensing systems and citizen-contributed smartphone platforms, provide valuable high-resolution observations that complement large-scale remote sensing and significantly enhance traditional monitoring through localized data acquisition. The integration of multi-source data, combining space-based remote sensing, ground-based proximal sensing, and public participation monitoring, represents the future of comprehensive water quality assessments. When combined with universal retrieval algorithms, this integrated approach enables operational, near-real-time water quality assessment while improving both the monitoring accuracy and the spatial–temporal coverage. These technological advancements facilitate the early detection of risks in drinking water supplies, strengthen safety oversight and operational efficiency, and deepen our understanding of aquatic ecosystem responses to climate change.

This Special Issue aims to bring together cutting-edge studies that advance the use of remote sensing technologies in water quality monitoring across inland, coastal, and estuarine environments.

We invite submissions on a wide range of topics, including, but not limited to, the following: retrieval algorithms for water quality parameters, algorithm validation and uncertainty assessment, multi-source data integration, time series analysis, atmospheric correction for aquatic environment, eutrophication monitoring, pollution detection, and applications in water resource management. We welcome original research articles, reviews, and case studies that demonstrate practical applications or methodological advancements in remote sensing for water quality.

Dr. Xuejiao Hou
Dr. Shangbo Yang
Dr. Jilin Men
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.

• remote sensing
• water quality
• water clarity
• eutrophication
• water turbidity
• atmospheric correction
• algal bloom
• climate change
• multi-source integrated observation
• inherent/apparent optical properties