Intelligent systems (IS) are of huge interest in relation to many environmental applications. The term refers to computing systems into which Artificial Intelligence and other computing technologies are woven and used to achieve specific goals for the user, the environment or both. Intelligent Systems have the ultimate objective of enriching user knowledge in order to better manage and increase user awareness of that environment. It is well known that the protection of the environment against factors such as climate change and environmental degradation are crucial for the perpetuation of human presence on earth. Likewise, optimum environmental management strategies are required to meet human demands (e.g. to increase food production). Thus, environmental applications comprise studies on the state of environmental media (e.g., soils, waters, sediments, wastes) for their protection or restoration from degradation and for optimal management. The development of IS has applications in a wide range of areas (e.g., mining, land contamination, agriculture, industrial processes) in which environmental matrices are affected and this development requires inputs from a range of disciplines.

Research in environmental applications often acknowledges the importance of intelligent systems, and vice versa, but IS publications usually lack clear environmental applications, and those on environmental applications rarely address intelligent systems directly. We therefore believe that there is a gap in knowledge related to the interaction between IS and environmental applications. Multidisciplinary teams (e.g., experts in mathematics/statistics, telecommunications, computer sciences, environmental sciences) can provide new insights through publications on IS for environmental applications.

We encourage authors to submit manuscripts on the use of IS to address important environmental issues. Where possible the papers should bring together knowledge from both scientific areas to provide insights at the interface between these disciplines. We encourage manuscripts that use environmental data to feed IS to provide a clear and recognisable output; or contributions that use other type of data (e.g., those provided by social media) that after, being processed by an IS, have an environmental meaning.

Submissions can build from work presented at a conference, but the paper submitted to the Special Issue must be significantly different, with greater scientific depth and content, in order to meet the standards required by the journal.

Topics:

The Special Issue is devoted to the use of IS for environmental applications. We offer an opportunity for researchers and practitioners to identify new promising research directions as well as to publish recent advances in this area. All topics listed in this CFP are related to IS and need to have environmental applications as previously stated. The scope of this issue includes, but is not limited, to the following topics:

Internet of things (IoT) in environmental applications
Big Data for environmental protection focused on open data and social media
Intelligent forecasting applications
Intelligent applications for ecological disaster management
Intelligent waste management
Multi sensor and data fusion
Smart farming

For more information, please contact guest editors:

Dr. José Martín Soriano-Disla, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Spain (martin.soriano at upct.es)

Dr. Andrés Muñoz, Catholic University of Murcia, Spain (amunoz at ucam.edu)