Land Degradation Assessment with Earth Observation (Second Edition)
A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292). This special issue belongs to the section "Ecological Remote Sensing".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2024 | Viewed by 16473
Special Issue Editor
Interests: remote sensing; land degradation; AI algorithms
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
For decades now, land degradation has been identified as one of the most pressing problems facing the planet. Alarming estimates are often published by the academic community and intergovernmental organisations, claiming that a third of the planet is undergoing various degradation processes and almost half of the world’s population is already residing in degraded lands. Moreover, as land degradation directly affects the biophysical processes of vegetation and leads to changes in ecosystem functioning, it has a knock-on effect on habitats and, therefore, on numerous species of flora and fauna that become endangered or/and extinct.
The processes that have more commonly been identified as the driving factors behind land degradation are both anthropogenic as well as climatic, and numerous studies have thus far attempted to disentangle the nexus between the two. The most prominent causes have appeared to be the processes of soil erosion by water or wind, soil salinization, gully erosion, natural hazards, land use/cover change, agricultural expansion or abandonment, deforestation, urbanisation, grazing intensification, bush encroachment, fuelwood extraction and drought.
By far the most widely used approach in assessing land degradation has been to employ Earth observation data. Especially during the last decade, with technological advancements and the computational capacity of computers on the one hand, together with the availability of open-access remotely sensed data archives on the other, numerous works dedicated to the study of the various aspects of land degradation have been undertaken. The spectral, spatial and temporal resolution of these studies varies considerably, and multiscale, multitemporal and multisensor approaches have also evolved.
This forthcoming 2nd Volume of the Special Issue on “Land Degradation Assessment with Earth Observation” calls for original research papers with a focus on land degradation in arid, semiarid and dry-subhumid areas (i.e., desertification), but also temperate rangelands, grasslands, woodlands, peatlands and the humid tropics. Papers covering any spatial and temporal scale are welcome, and both abrupt and more salient changes and degradation processes are of interest. Time-series analysis techniques that assess the timing and duration of the reduction in biological productivity brought about by land degradation are also encouraged.
Dr. Elias Symeonakis
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.
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Keywords
- Land degradation
- Desertification
- Deforestation
- Drought
- Soil erosion
- Land use/cover change
- Habitat degradation
- Multitemporal analysis
- Time-series analysis
Planned Papers
The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.
Title: Using Nighttime Light Data to Explore the Extent of Power Outages in the Florida Panhandle After 2018 Hurricane Michael
Authors: Diana Mitsova; Yanmei Li; Ross Einsteder; Tiffany Roberts Briggs; Alka Sapat; and Ann-Margaret Esnard
Affiliation: Florida Atlantic University
Abstract: The destructive forces of tropical cyclones can have significant impacts on the land, contributing to degradation through various mechanisms such as erosion, debris, loss of vegetation, and widespread damage to infrastructure. Storm surge and flooding can wash away buildings and other structures, deposit debris and sediments, and contaminate freshwater resources, making them unsuitable for both human use and agriculture. High winds and flooding often damage electrical substations and transformers, leading to disruptions in electricity supply. Restoration can take days or even weeks, depending on the extent of the damage and the resources available. In the meantime, communities affected by power outages may experience difficulties accessing essential services and maintaining communication. In this study, we used a weighted maximum likelihood classification algorithm to reclassify NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey Emergency Response Imagery scenes into debris, sand, water, trees, and roofs to assess the extent of the damage around Mexico Beach, Florida, following the 2018 Hurricane Michael. NASA’s Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day/Night Band (DNB) was processed to estimate power outage duration and rate of restoration in the Florida Panhandle based on the 7-day moving averages. Percent loss of electrical service at a neighborhood level was estimated using the 2013-2017 American Community Survey block group data. Spatial lag models were employed to examine the association between restoration rates and socio-economic factors. The analysis revealed notable differences in power restoration rates between urbanized and rural areas and between disadvantaged and more affluent communities. Our study indicates that near-real-time satellite imagery can facilitate rapid assessments and provide decision support for community recovery plans.