Coastal zone is one of the most important Earth’s Critical Zones, while coastal wetland ecosystems are the dominant component. Coastal wetlands (e.g., mangrove, salt marsh, tidal flat) hold important ecosystem functions and services. For example, coastal wetlands play critical roles in biodiversity conservation, especially for the migratory shore birds. As the primary source of blue carbon, coastal wetlands are also important to carbon cycle. Moreover, coastal wetlands are central to protecting the coast, mitigating marine disaster, and supporting economic development. However, impacted by human activities, climate change, and sea-level rise, the extent of coastal wetland ecosystem experienced notable shrinkage and such loss induced serious eco-environment effects. In the meantime, the protection and restoration of coastal wetlands were increasingly enhanced. Therefore, a comprehensive cognition of coastal wetland change is required for sustainable ecosystem management and policy improvement.
Multi-source remote sensing data have been widely used in monitoring coastal wetland ecosystems. In recent years, accurate coastal wetland mapping, observation of wetland landscape pattern and process, and assessment of wetland function and service had become possible thanks to the increasing accessibility to remotely sensed big data, artificial intelligence, and cloud platform technologies. Hyperspectral data can help accurately identify coastal wetland community types, while SAR data can overcome the influence of cloudy weather frequent in coastal zones. Time series data could benefit the observation of vegetation phenology feature and tidal changes. Machine learning and cloud computing supports the rapid observation and data process of coastal wetlands over a broad scale.
Investigating the observation theory and methods for coastal wetlands using multi-source remote sensing has been the research hot spot and the ecological changes of coastal wetlands identified by means of remotely sensed big data has also got more attentions. Therefore, this Article Collection is dedicated to observing changes of coastal wetland using remote sensing. The potential topics include but are not limited to the following:
- Coastal wetland classification and mapping
- Assessment of ecosystem functions and services of coastal wetlands
- Risk and resilience of coastal wetlands
- Impacts of climate change on coastal environments
- Applications of satellite, aerial, UAV and proximal sensing on coastal wetland mapping and analysis
- Mapping and monitoring of mangroves, salt marsh, intertidal flats, submerged aquatic vegetation, coastal benthic environment and non-tidal coastal freshwater wetlands
- Methodologies and algorithms in data analysis and modeling of coastal zones
- Coastal habitats change and biodiversity conservation
- Coastal wetlands and sustainable development
- Impacts of land use and land cover change on coastal wetlands
- Human activities and disturbance on coastal wetlands
