Recent Advances in Remote Sensing for Wetland and Inland Water Sources

Dear Colleagues,

Currently, the biodiversity of the freshwater ecosystem is deteriorating at a faster rate than any other biome. Moving forward, a profound change is expected in global freshwater resources, which will significantly impact the other services that are provided by the ecosystem.  Effective ways of mitigating and managing such changes are crucial for human well-being, as energy and water are necessary for survival in the next century. Threats to inland biodiversity are the most significant and are likely to increase as more water is required to fulfil human demands. Furthermore, the impacts of land-based activities further degrade inland water resources. Some of the major drivers of wetland and inland water resource biodiversity degradation include habitat change, climate change, invasive alien species, and the over-exploitation of natural resources. Without the proper management of wetland and inland water resources, there will be rapid biodiversity loss, but important ecosystem services will also slowly degrade. This will conseqently lead to increased impacts on the development of humankind. Hence, addressing these issues is crucially important.

Remote sensing and earth observation play an important role in the conservation of wetland and inland water resources. Over the decades, efforts to preserve wetland and inland water resources have been hampered due to a lack of information about the the geographical location, type, and size of wetland resources. The data acquired through remote sensing and GIS can provide researchers with the information they require to adapt and modify wetland conservation techniques and strategic restoration measures. Further, bringing in more advanced remote sensing applications will help to address some important research questions such as what is the actual extent of wetlands and how has it changed over time? What are the growing impacts of urbanization, agriculture, and aquaculture on wetland and inland water resources? How can we efficiently identify the signs of water quality degradation, e.g., eutrophication and large sediment loads? How can we effectively predict the extent to which climate change and upstream water use impacts wetland ecosystems? The introduction of advances in remote sensing will significantly help to address these research questions and will assist in conserving wetland resources.

This Special Issue invites researchers and practitioners from academia and industry to explore innovative remote sensing applications for wetland and inland water resource management.

Topics of interest include but are not limited to the following:

• Recent trends of using remote sensing applications for wetland and inland water resource management;
• Remote sensing applications for enhancing the resilience of wetlands;
• Remote sensing for long-term wetland identification and habitat classification;
• Advances in remote sensing for capturing appropriate wetland vegetation parameters;
• Advances in satellite remote sensing for water resource management;
• Remote sensing applications for wetland conservation and management;
• Frontiers in remote sensing for water eutrophication and the analysis of driving forces;
• Remote sensing for capturing accurate wetland vegetation parameters;
• Innovations in remote sensing for the analysis of the biogeochemical parameters of inland water resources;
• Remote sensing for aquatic vegetation mapping and monitoring;
• Remote sensing for water boundary and dynamics analysis.

Dr. Chi Lin
Prof. Dr. Chang Wu Yu
Dr. Ning Wang
Guest Editors

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• water
• remote sensing
• analysis
• aquatic vegetation mapping
• resource management