Advancing Sustainability Through Remote Sensing: Addressing Climate Change Challenges
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainability in Geographic Science".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 8 February 2026 | Viewed by 99
Special Issue Editors
Interests: landslides; rock avalanches; debris flows; debris floods; climate change; remote sensing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: natural hazards; land degradation; water resources; hydrology; climate change; remote sensing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Climate change poses unprecedented challenges to global sustainability, exacerbating extreme weather events, sea-level rise, biodiversity loss, and ecosystem degradation. Addressing these issues requires comprehensive, real-time monitoring and predictive modeling to inform adaptive strategies. Remote sensing technologies, including satellite imagery, aerial surveys, and multispectral sensors, have emerged as critical tools for advancing sustainability by enabling large-scale, cost-effective, and non-invasive monitoring of environmental changes. By integrating multi-sensor, multi-platform, and multi-temporal datasets, remote sensing offers insights into carbon cycling, land-use dynamics, glacier retreat, and urban expansion—key indicators of climate change impacts. However, traditional approaches often struggle to capture the complexity and spatiotemporal variability of climate-related processes. Remote sensing bridges this gap by providing high-resolution data to characterize environmental trends, detect early warning signals, and simulate future scenarios. For instance, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and LiDAR enable precise mapping of coastal erosion and forest biomass, while thermal sensors monitor heatwaves and wildfire risks. Combined with Geographic Information Systems (GISs) and machine learning, these tools enhance the accuracy of climate models and risk assessments. Despite these advancements, challenges remain in data integration, algorithm development, and translating remote sensing outputs into actionable policies. This Research Topic aims to showcase innovative applications of remote sensing and interdisciplinary methods for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:
- Spatiotemporal analysis of carbon sinks and cycling;
- Early detection of climate-induced natural hazards (e.g., droughts, floods, landslides);
- Monitoring of ecosystem resilience and biodiversity hotspots;
- Urban sustainability modeling through remote sensing;
- Novel technologies for monitoring cryospheric and coastal dynamics;
- Development of decision-support frameworks for sustainable resource use;
- Development of early warning systems for extreme weather events;
- Innovation in data fusion for cross-scale climate modeling.
Dr. Zhuo Chen
Dr. Mukhiddin Juliev
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- remote sensing
- climate change mitigation
- environmental monitoring
- carbon cycle
- cryosphere
- coastal management
- early warning systems
- sustainable development
- data fusion
- climate resilience
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