Remote Sensing for Ecohydrology

Dear Colleagues,

Ecohydrology integrates ecological and hydrological processes to understand the dynamic interactions between ecosystems and the water cycle. The primary goal of ecohydrology is to understand how water availability shapes ecosystem structure and function and, conversely, how ecosystems regulate water processes. As global environmental changes intensify, the need to assess these interactions becomes critical for the sustainability of ecosystems and water resources. Remote sensing technologies, with their ability to capture multi-scale, spatially continuous, and temporally frequent data, have become indispensable for monitoring and analyzing ecohydrological processes across various spatial and temporal scales. This Special Issue of Remote Sensing will provide insights into how remote sensing technologies can be effectively utilized to advance ecohydrology research, improve our understanding of how ecosystems interact with hydrological processes in response to natural and anthropogenic drivers, and support the development of solutions for sustainable water and ecosystem management. We invite submissions that explore innovative methods and tools, including multispectral, hyperspectral, thermal, and LiDAR sensors, as well as the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and satellites, to monitor vegetation dynamics, water and sediment fluxes, evapotranspiration, soil moisture, agricultural water management, ecohydrological extremes, and ecosystem–water interactions. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Leveraging remote sensing to monitor vegetation dynamics and their relationship with hydrological processes;
• The use of remote sensing to assess evapotranspiration for optimizing water balance and supporting ecosystem function;
• Remote sensing applications used for understanding soil moisture dynamics and their role in ecosystem–water interactions;
• Elucidating surface water–groundwater interactions using remote sensing techniques;
• Remote sensing-based monitoring of pollutant and sedimentation impacts on water bodies and surrounding ecosystems;
• Coupling remote sensing data with hydrological models to predict ecosystems’ responses to hydrological changes and vice versa;
• Detecting and monitoring ecohydrological extremes (e.g., droughts, floods) using remote sensing;
• The role of remote sensing in assessing climate-induced vegetation and water cycle changes (vegetation–water relationships);
• Leveraging the application of Artificial Intelligence (including machine learning and deep learning), satellite imageries and UAVs for analyzing ecohydrological processes;
• The use of remote sensing to assess the effectiveness of nature-based solutions for water resource management and climate resilience.

Dr. Ayele Almaw Fenta
Guest Editor

Dr. Mewcha Amha Gebremedhin
Guest Editor Assistant

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-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.