Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue invites research articles and reviews dealing with the use of close-range spectral imaging (hyperspectral or multispectral) techniques, platforms, and analyses for the study of marine or aquatic environments.

As spectral imaging sensors have become more portable and accessible, they are being used in a wide range of applications, from the study of samples in the laboratory to field sampling in coastal, limnic, or marine environments. The integration of spectral imaging sensors onto small platforms has revolutionized the access to and scale of optical surveying of coastal or underwater habitats. This has greatly bolstered our capacity to analyze, detect, quantify, and classify the features of these environments, such as biogeochemical structures, organisms, natural or man-made substrata, and pollutants, at unprecedented spatial resolutions. For this Special Issue, we invite scientific studies that exploit close-up optical spectral imaging for the study of marine or aquatic systems in both in-situ and ex-situ settings. We welcome studies that address problems particular to proximal or underwater imaging, such as calibrations, integration on small platforms, geo-registration, and rectification. The increasing use of small platforms (UAVs, ROVs, AUVs, SCUBA, etc.) invites a special focus, and we wish to exclude satellite or manned aircrafts from this Special Issue. We also invite laboratory or field studies that use spectral imaging analyses for marine or aquatic applications.

Specific themes include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Integration and demonstration of spectral imaging on small platforms for marine or aquatic environments;
• Laboratory or field-based studies of aquatic targets: from microplastics to geological samples to megafauna;
• Analytical developments for spectral imaging through fluid media: calibrations, images, or spectral corrections and reconstruction;
• Operational developments for large-scale applications: geo-registration, rectification, mosaicking, etc.;
• Big data developments in spectral image processing: machine learning, data fusion, and other statistical approaches;
• Next-generation technologies and missions for the use of spectral imaging in marine monitoring programs; and
• Reviews summarizing progress in the field.

Dr. Vanessa Lucieer
Prof. Dr. Geir Johnsen
Dr. Emiliano Cimoli
Dr. Arjun Chennu
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.

• spectral imaging
• calibration of spectral imaging
• machine learning
• data fusion
• marine environment
• marine platforms
• habitat mapping
• marine sensors
• marine technology
• unmanned systems