Remote Sensing in Monitoring and Modelling the Patterns and Processes of Land System Change

Dear Colleagues,

Land system changes, influenced by anthropogenic activities ranging from local land management to global trade, hold significant implications for sustainability transformations. A more profound comprehension of the state, trajectory, and consequences of these alterations is central to understanding the dynamic nature of land systems and unravelling their effects on ecosystem services and human well-being. Remote sensing, with its unparalleled ability to capture extensive spatial and temporal information, has emerged as a powerful tool in advancing our understanding of land system dynamics. Exciting new prospects are also arising in the comprehension of its social-ecological drivers by incorporating remote sensing data and crowd-sourced social sensing data.

This Special Issue focuses on novel approaches and applications in utilizing remote sensing and social sensing for monitoring and modeling the patterns and processes of land system change. By highlighting the role of remote sensing technology in this domain, we aim to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and advance knowledge in the field of land system science. Papers covering any spatial and temporal scale and any subcomponent within the diverse socio-ecological systems are of interest, and studies on both abrupt and more salient changes and ecological processes are encouraged. We invite original research articles, reviews, and methodological papers that cover, but are not limited to, the following themes:

• Remote sensing applications for mapping land use and land cover changes;
• Integrating remote sensing data with socio-economic indicators to assess the drivers of land system change;
• Assessing the impacts of urban–rural integration on land systems;
• Quantifying ecosystem service supply and flow in response to land system changes;
• Advancements in satellite imagery for deforestation and afforestation monitoring;
• Combining remote sensing with geospatial analysis for ecological restoration studies;
• Remote sensing-based assessments of habitat fragmentation and biodiversity loss;
• Pixel-based observation of agricultural intensification;
• Artificial intelligence techniques in analyzing remote sensing data for land system modeling;
• Role of remote sensing in detecting telecoupled land systems;
• Case studies and practices in utilizing remote sensing for sustainable land management;
• Analyzing the characteristics of social-ecological system by incorporating remote sensing data and crowd-sourced social sensing data;
• The impact of social and ecological driving factors on the ecosystem services and human well-being;
• Associations between land use structure/function and environmental outcomes;
• Ecological consequences of changes in landscape composition and configuration.

Prof. Dr. Yu Cao
Dr. Narumasa Tsutsumida
Dr. Chuyuan (Carter) Wang
Dr. Chengbin Deng
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.

• land system science
• human–environment interactions
• ecosystem
• ecological process
• land degradation
• land use function
• land configuration
• environmental performance
• change detection
• time series analysis
• ecological restoration
• social-ecological systems
• human well-being