Climate change is already having a significant impact on various (economic) sectors and human behavior, including our cultural heritage.
Cultural heritage can strengthen a community’s sense of belonging and cultural identity, which in turn can enhance community resilience towards disasters. Furthermore, it can support raising awareness about past climatic changes, inform and inspire current and future climate adaptation, planning and resilience.
Over the last decades, climate change impacts are exacerbated in the cold regions of the globe (Arctic and Antarctica), which are warming two or three times faster than the global average. Likewise, desertification, coastal erosion, sea-level rise, extreme weather events are also threatening monuments, historical buildings and archaeological areas in temperate regions and coastal sites (e.g. Mediterranean Sea, Persian Gulf, etc.)
This Research Topic focuses on the theoretical and especially applied modern inter- and multi-disciplinary approaches into advancing the knowledge on climate change effects on cultural heritage; which will lead to better management and mitigation measures against the loss of cultural diversity. Specifically, we refer to tangible cultural heritage, immovable cultural heritage (historical buildings, monuments and archaeological sites) and underwater cultural heritage (underwater ruins and cities, shipwrecks). Authors are called to submit their research on the following (but not limited to) points:
– Climate change effects on cultural heritage;
– The application of remote sensing and/or GIS from Earth Sciences to cultural heritage;
– New methods and tools that are able to generate novel data used for monitoring purposes;
– Novel and up-to-date 3D and 4D technologies that can be applied to cultural heritage;
– The use of geophysics for cultural heritage monitoring and management;
– Remote sensing and GIS tools for monitoring and mapping climate-induced hydro-geomorphological processes (e.g. coastal erosion, retrogressive thaw slumps, active layer detachment, thermo-erosion gullying, etc.);
Novel and stimulating multi- and inter-disciplinary techniques tackling the above points, along with their applications and relevant case studies, will be considered. Studies that apply their methods in the cold regions of the Globe, but not limited to (Arctic and sub-Arctic, Antarctica) are encouraged. Thorough review papers are also welcome.