Bridging the Proximal and Remote Sensing Spectroscopy for Soil Properties Estimation and Monitoring

Dear Colleagues,

The sustainable management of soil health and its state require constant assessment and monitoring of a high number of soil properties at different time frames and spatial scales, which presents a challenge when utilizing costly and time-consuming conventional analytical methods.

Reflectance spectroscopy has proven to be a reliable, cheap, and environmentally friendly technique for the estimation of basic and some functional soil properties. Its application extends from the laboratory benchtop and in situ portable or on-the-go sensors to the most recent remote (drone, aircraft and spaceborne) sensors, enabling a much bigger scale of investigation and potentially enabling a mapping of the spatial distribution of soil properties.

In this Special Issue, we would like to invite contributions reporting on the application of soil spectroscopy across visible near infrared; vis–NIR (400–2500 nm), mid-wave infrared; MWIR (3000–5000 nm) and long-wave Infrared; the LWIR (7000–12000 nm) spectral range; and focusing on:

• Broadening the spectrum of proximal spectroscopy towards assessment, monitoring, and mapping of soil functional and advanced properties;
• Presenting novel approaches to monitoring soil properties using remote sensing spectroscopy (also known as hyperspectral remote sensing–imaging spectroscopy);
• Contributinf to the application of current and upcoming satellite hyperspectral missions for soil properties monitoring.

Moreover, considering the inevitable perspective of the fusion between proximal and remote soil spectroscopy, we would like to invite contributions bridging the two areas of research and the related challenges together. The relevant topics, among others, may include:

• Spectral libraries (both laboratory and in situ), their standardization, and harmonization methods;
• Calibration transfers between instruments and among different communities;
• Examples of fusion between spectral libraries and remote spectroscopy for soil properties estimation;
• Novel modeling techniques;
• Multiscale and simulation approaches.

This includes research and applications within precision agriculture, pedology, soil health monitoring, soil management, and environmental protection.

Dr. Maria Knadel
Dr. Sabine Chabrillat
Dr. Johanna Wetterlind
Dr. Asa Gholizadeh
Guest Editors

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