Special Issue "Risk Assessment, Monitoring and Recovery of Fires: Approaches from Microwave and Multi-Spectral Remote Sensing"

Dear Colleagues,

Wildfires are a major natural hazard with considerable societal, economic, and environmental impacts. In the context of climate change, higher temperatures and the increased intensity and duration of droughts have resulted in larger fires and changes in fire regimes. Thus, it is necessary to conduct further research on the three key stages of fires: pre-fire conditions, fire monitoring, and post-fire recovery. Remote sensing tools based on microwave frequencies or multi-spectral images have high applicability in fire research and are suitable for providing regular and timely information on several variables. These remote sensing tools can be used to measure a range of environmental properties (from soil moisture to vegetation greenness) at multiple and complementary spatial scales (from high-resolution scales  in optic and radar instruments to broader scales in passive microwave sensors).

The aim of this Special Issue is to gather research, based on microwave and/or multispectral sensors, which: (i) improves our capacity to assess fire risk as a function of remotely sensed pre-fire conditions; (ii) enhances current fire detection and monitoring tools from satellites and airborne platforms; (iii) provides analyses on soil and/or vegetation recovery after fire events; or (iv) explores new remote sensing-based approaches suitable for each fire stage (e.g., pre-fire, monitoring, and/or post-fire).

We welcome studies covering new remote sensing tools, approaches, sensors, and data collection and processing methods that can successfully target the aforementioned objectives. This Special Issue is focused on microwave and multi-spectral sensors, and we encourage the synergistic application of both techniques. We welcome submissions that cover, but are not limited to:

• The exploration of new approaches (sensors, methods, variables, etc.) to detect fire prone conditions.
• The development of new remote sensing-based fire risk indicators and indices.
• The application of pre-fire remote sensing measurements to predict fire conditions (intensity, rate of spread, burned area, etc.) and/or the potential development of mega-fires.
• The development of new methods for fire modelling, and/or new datasets containing fire information.
• Applications of remote sensing tools to address the emergency phase management.
• Investigation of the impact of wildfires on the environment, including vegetation, soils, biodiversity, and biogeochemical cycles.
• The exploration of post-fire recovery in soils and/or vegetation.
• The study of ecological successions in burned areas.
• Fire recovery and adaptation pathways of landscapes affected by fires.

Dr. David Chaparro
Dr. Nemesio J. Rodríguez-Fernández
Dr. Daniela Stroppiana
Guest Editors

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.

• microwave remote sensing
• multi-spectral remote sensing
• fire risk assessment
• pre-fire conditions
• fire monitoring
• fire environmental impacts
• post-fire recovery
• post-fire succession