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Advances in Hyperspectral Data Analysis for Vegetation and Soil Monitoring

A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292). This special issue belongs to the section "Remote Sensing in Agriculture and Vegetation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 November 2025 | Viewed by 418

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Institutional information: Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China
Interests: hyperspectral remote sensing; temporal spectrum; precision agriculture; multidimensional analysis technology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Hyperspectral remote sensing can capture detailed spectral information across contiguous bands, which makes it indispensable for applications in precision agriculture, soil health assessment, and ecosystem monitoring. This capability enables the precise identification of biochemical and biophysical properties in vegetation (e.g., chlorophyll content, water stress, and disease detection) and soil (e.g., moisture, organic carbon, and contaminant levels). Recent advancements in data acquisition platforms—including UAVs, airborne sensors, and satellite constellations—and in new data mining technologies such as deep learning provide opportunities for the efficient processing of large amounts of hyperspectral images, opening new avenues for large-scale monitoring. These tools enable automated feature extraction, classification, and anomaly detection with unprecedented accuracy, even in heterogeneous landscapes. Additionally, the fusion of hyperspectral data with complementary sources—such as LiDAR, multispectral imagery, or IoT-based ground sensors—promises to improve model interpretability and decision-making. However, challenges still remain, such as hyperspectral data dimensionality reduction, complex interactions between vegetation and soil, and model universality and robustness.

This Special Issue aims at bringing together advanced research, innovative methodologies, and applications of hyperspectral remote sensing for vegetation and soil monitoring.

This Special Issue welcomes high-quality original research articles and reviews that explore recent advancements in hyperspectral remote sensing for vegetation and soil monitoring, including, but not limited to, the following:

  • Machine learning and deep learning approaches for hyperspectral data processing;
  • Hyperspectral dimensionality reduction techniques;
  • Hyperspectral analysis for vegetation health and stress detection;
  • Vegetation phenology monitoring;
  • Estimation of soil properties (e.g., organic matter, moisture, and texture);
  • Soil degradation detection;
  • Soil–vegetation interactions and their implications for ecosystem health.

Prof. Dr. Lifu Zhang
Guest Editor

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.

Keywords

  • hyperspectral remote sensing
  • vegetation phenology
  • soil properties
  • vegetation health
  • soil degradation
  • precision agriculture

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

23 pages, 846 KB  
Article
A Biologically Informed Wavelength Extraction (BIWE) Method for Hyperspectral Classification of Olive Cultivars and Ripening Stages
by Miriam Distefano, Giovanni Avola, Claudio Cantini, Beniamino Gioli, Alice Cavaliere and Ezio Riggi
Remote Sens. 2025, 17(19), 3277; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17193277 - 24 Sep 2025
Viewed by 140
Abstract
Reliable tools for cultivar discrimination and ripening stage evaluation are critical to optimize harvest timing and support milling process focused on olive oil quality. This research examines the spectral properties of olive drupes throughout different maturation stages, ranging from green to full purple-black [...] Read more.
Reliable tools for cultivar discrimination and ripening stage evaluation are critical to optimize harvest timing and support milling process focused on olive oil quality. This research examines the spectral properties of olive drupes throughout different maturation stages, ranging from green to full purple-black pigmentation, across 29 distinct cultivars. High-resolution spectrometric analysis was conducted within the 380–1080 nm wavelength range. Multiple analytical approaches were employed to optimize wavelength selection from hyperspectral reflectance data to obtain discriminating tools for olive classification. A Biologically Informed Wavelength Extraction method (BIWE) was developed, focusing on cultivar and ripening stages identification, and pivoted on biologically informed single wavelengths and Vegetation Indices (VIs) selection. The methodology integrated multi-scale spectral analysis with biochemically weighted scoring and a multi-criteria evaluation framework, employing a two-iteration refinement process to identify optimal spectral features with high discriminatory power and biological relevance. Analysis revealed spectral variations associated with maturation. A characteristic reflectance peak at approximately 550 nm observed during early ripening stages underwent a notable shift, developing into distinct spectral behavior within the 700–780 nm range in intermediate and advanced ripening stages and reaching a plateau for all the samples between 800 and 950 nm. The BIWE method achieved exceptional efficiency in olive classification, utilizing only 25 single wavelengths compared to 114 required by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and 131 by Recursive Feature Elimination (RFE), representing 4.6-fold and 5.2-fold reductions, respectively. Despite this reduction, BIWE’s overall accuracy (0.5634) remained competitive compared to RFE (−10%) and PCA (−8%) alternative approaches requiring larger wavelengths dataset acquisition. The integration of biochemically relevant VIs enhanced accuracy across all methodologies, with BIWE demonstrating notable improvement (+19.2%). BIWE demonstrated effective olive identification capacity with a reduction in required wavelengths and VIs dataset, affecting the technological needs (spectrometer offset and real-time classification applications) for a tool oriented to olive cultivars and ripening stage discrimination. Full article
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