Announcements

ESA SYMPOSIUM ON EARTH OBSERVATION FOR SOIL PROTECTION AND RESTORATION

The 2nd EO 4 Soil Symposium ON EARTH OBSERVATION FOR SOIL PROTECTION AND RESTORATION will be held from 4th to 6th of November 2026 at Frascati (Rome), Italy. 

The Symposium aims to:

• Assess how EO can support soil protection, restoration and sustainable use as defined in European and international policies, including Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) frameworks.

• Demonstrate the capabilities of satellite remote sensing, alone and in synergy with in situ, airborne and modelling data, for monitoring, validation, reporting and verification of key soil properties (e.g. organic carbon, nutrients, minerals, moisture, salinity), as well as soil–vegetation interactions.

• Evaluate the potential of operational EO-based soil monitoring systems for improved estimation, mapping and long-term tracking of soil condition and function.

• Identify future requirements for EO-enabled soil information services, including methodological advances, data integration, operational sustainability and potential business models.

• Explore downstream applications that support national and European agencies in assessing soil health and land degradation, and in reporting against indicators such as SDG 15.3.1.

• Foster broad scientific and stakeholder participation through parallel sessions aligned with the European soil science and policy framework, highlighting the suitability and limits of EO methods for soil protection and restoration.

More information can be found here

Featured Paper

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Optimality-Based Active Region Model (ARM) for Fingering Flow in the Vadose Zone: Recent Theoretical Progress

Gravitational fingering often occurs for water flow in the vadose zone and accurate modeling of this important flow process remains a significant scientific challenge. This paper presents the latest theoretical developments of the optimality-based active region model (ARM), a macroscopic framework developed for describing gravitational fingering flow in the vadose zone. ARM divides the soil into active (fingering) and inactive regions, introducing a relationship between water flux and hydraulic gradient derived from the principle of optimality that the system self-organizes to maximize water flow conductivity. Unlike traditional models, ARM’s hydraulic conductivity depends on both capillary pressure or water saturation and water flux, reflecting the unstable nature of fingering flow. The paper provides an updated mathematical derivation of ARM relationships using calculus of variations and extends ARM to account for small water flux in the non-fingering zone, resulting in a dual-flow field model. These new developments should make ARM more rigorous and realistic for field-scale applications. More information can be found here.