Frontiers in Remote Sensing | New and Recent Articles

Retrieving water quality variables from remotely sensed reflectance spectra (Rrs) with global-scale, cross-waterbody applicability remains a grand challenge in environmental remote sensing. Here we introduce Hierarchical Spectral Ensemble (HSE), a machine learning pipeline for concurrent retrieval of four ecologically relevant water quality parameters (chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), total suspended solid…

IntroductionRapid detection of war-induced damage is vital for humanitarian response and post-war reconstruction, yet large-scale, well-annotated benchmarks for war-damage change detection are still lacking.MethodsWe present a large-scale, high-resolution bi-temporal optical remote sensing benchmark for war-damage change detection, named WD-CD. WD-CD contains 9,687 bi-temporal image pairs of 512 …

Phytoplankton pigment concentrations retrieved from ocean color satellite observations provide key information on marine ecosystem composition and biogeochemical cycling. Although Machine Learning (ML) approaches have been applied to multi-spectral sensors such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and the Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS), no study has system…

The rapid expansion of mussel raft aquaculture has increased the demand for accurate and scalable monitoring systems to support sustainable coastal management. Deep learning (DL) object detectors, particularly the YOLO family, enable automated extraction of aquaculture infrastructures from Very High-Resolution (VHR) satellite imagery. However, conventional detectors rely on horizontal bounding bo…

Human‐wildlife conflict (HWC) is increasingly associated with rapid land‐use and land‐cover (LULC) changes and broader environmental shifts. While previous studies have focused on causal factors and coexistence strategies, the spatiotemporal dynamics of human-wildlife interactions under shifting LULC remain poorly quantified. This study examines the spatiotemporal patterns of LULC and their assoc…

Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) change detection is fundamental for understanding landscape dynamics and supporting sustainable environmental management, particularly in ecologically sensitive and transboundary conservation areas such as Kruger National Park, South Africa. Rapid urban expansion, agricultural intensification, and environmental change have accelerated landscape transformation, highlight…

Smallholder irrigation is crucial to livelihoods and growth in rural agro-economies. Identifying where it occurs provides valuable insights for agriculture extension, water management, infrastructure investments, marketing and energy provision. Remote sensing methods can aid but have been stymied by the small plot sizes, especially of irrigated plots. Humid tropical climates are characterized by …

Satellite-based precipitation products are widely used for hydrological modelling; however, temporal sampling uncertainty caused by infrequent satellite overpasses can significantly affect runoff estimation, particularly in mountainous and flood-prone watersheds. This study evaluates the influence of temporal sampling uncertainty in precipitation on runoff simulation using multi-sensor combinatio…

Atmospheric pollution associated with carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and sulfur dioxide (SO2) represents an important environmental and public health concern in Andean regions influenced by urban growth, transportation, agricultural burning, mining-related activities, and complex topography. This study analyzed the spatiotemporal variability of CO, NO2, and SO2 in the Apurimac regi…

The Yilan-Yitong Fault Zone, a core part of the northern Tanlu Fault Zone, is a key seismogenic structure in Northeast Asia. Its Liaoning segment suffers from unclear surface distribution, insufficient late Quaternary activity evidence and lack of refined research based on optimized multi-source remote sensing data, which restricts regional seismic hazard assessment and major engineering safety l…

IntroductionLand suitability assessment is crucial for identifying areas with high potential for agricultural production, promoting sustainable land use, and addressing food security challenges. In the study area, approximately 70% of the population depends on agriculture for their livelihood. Therefore, assessing land suitability is essential for ensuring efficient land utilization and enhancing…

Stratospheric high-altitude balloons (HABs) have great potential as remote sensing platforms for Earth observations, complementing orbiting satellites and low-flying drones. At altitudes of 20–35 km, HABs operate significantly closer to the ground than orbiting satellites but significantly higher than most drones. Therefore, HABs offer unique potential for high-spatial-resolution imaging with lar…

Rapid tourism expansion and infrastructure growth in the Western Ghats are reshaping ecological stability in steep, topographically complex landscapes that still retain substantial forest cover. These changes are intensifying habitat fragmentation, degrading ecosystems, and placing increasing pressure on biodiversity-rich environments. Focusing on Idukki district in southern India, this study int…

In visible-SAR cross-modal remote sensing target detection tasks, due to the significant differences between the two modalities in imaging mechanisms and feature representations, as well as the susceptibility of SAR images to speckle noise interference and the inadequate utilization of structural information, existing methods often struggle to balance detection accuracy with model lightweighting …

IntroductionIndustrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) is a multipurpose bio‐economy crop capable of producing fiber, grain, and biomass while contributing to soil health and carbon sequestration. Realizing this potential requires optimized nitrogen (N) management, as N strongly regulates plant growth, yield, and fiber quality, while inefficient or excessive N use can cause environmental harm. Conventi…

Gross primary productivity (GPP) is a crucial indicator for understanding the global carbon cycle and climate change. Sun-Induced Chlorophyll Fluorescence (SIF) provides a direct link to plant photosynthesis, offering a novel approach for GPP estimation in terrestrial ecosystems. Given the complex factors influencing the canopy SIF–GPP relationship and the limited generality of empirical linear m…

Digital agriculture has undergone a profound transformation driven by rapid advances in Earth observation, unmanned aerial vehicles and advanced data processing techniques. Despite this progress, climate-smart agriculture management faces a critical challenge: a farmer-centric agro-advisory system. Farmers and extension workers have limited access to GeoAI-based agro-advisory services, primarily …

IntroductionStrategic and active management of protected and heterogeneous wetland landscapes requires timely, accurate, and spatially explicit land-use and land-cover (LULC) information. This study presents a comprehensive landscape-level characterisation of LULC across South Africa’s first proclaimed World Heritage and Ramsar site, the iSimangaliso Wetland Park (IWP), and its surrounding areas.…