Observation and AI Techniques for Digital Earth

Prof. Zhang’s long-standing researches focus on big earth data, climate change mechanisms, ocean dynamics, environmental evolution and sustainability. Prof Zhang has published six books as first author: Ø Frame Theory in Data Science (Springer, 2024), Ø Environmental Data Analysis (DeGruyter, 2nd Edition, 2023), Ø Big Data Mining for Climate Change (Elsevier, 2020), Ø Patterns and Mechanisms of Climate, Paleoclimate and Paleoenvironmental Change from Low-Latitude Regions (Springer, 2019), Ø Multivariate Time Series Analysis in Climate & Environmental Research (Springer, 2018), Ø Mathematical and Physical Fundamentals of Climate Change (Elsevier, 2015)Prof. Zhang has published more than 80 articles, highlighting many times by New Scientist (UK), China Science Daily, and China Social Science Daily. Currently, Prof. Zhang is serving as an Editor-in-Chief of Int J Big Data Mining for Global Warming (World Scientific); an Associate Editor of Environ Dev Sustain (Springer), EURASIP J Adv Signal Process (Springer), and Int J Climate Change Strat & Manag (Emerald); and an Editorial Board Member of Earth Sci Informatics (Springer), PLoS ONE, Open Geosci (DeGruyter), Int J Global Warming (Indersci). Prof. Zhang is serving as the first track chair of Mediterranean Geosciences Union Annual Meeting (2021-now), and was invited as a plenary/keynote speaker at 2023 Mediterranean Geosciences Union Annual Meeting (Turkey) and 2024 International Conference on Intelligent Information Processing (Romania)Prof. M. James C. Crabbe is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (UK), a Fellow of the Society of Biology (UK), and a Fellow of the Linnean Society (UK). He is a Fellow now at Wolfson College, Oxford University. previously served as Professor and Head of School at the University of Reading (UK) and Executive Dean of Creative Arts, Technologies & Science at the University of Bedfordshire (UK) and held honorary and visiting professorships at several prestigious Chinese universitiesProfessor Crabbe's work has consistently emphasized the importance of international cooperation in tackling some of the most pressing global environmental issues, including marine conservation, coral reef preservation, and climate change. His research has resulted in over 350 publications in refereed International journals, 21 books and major book chapters, 14 items of commercial software, and numerous invitations as Plenary speaker at International conferences. His leadership extends beyond academic institutions: He is the president of International Engineering and Technology Institute, a Fellow and former Vice-President and Council Member of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technology, and his research in the maritime environment has influenced international conservation efforts. Currently, he serves as Senior Advisor to the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF). His recent appointment as a member of the Deep Sea Mining network of the U.K. Government’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs underscores his global influence in shaping policies that address marine and environmental conservation challenges. Dr. Daniele Contini got his M.Sc. in Physics in 1994 and his Ph.D. in Energy Engineering in 1999 from the University of Florence. He became Researcher at the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate of the National Research Council (ISAC-CNR in Lecce) in 2001 and he is now (from 2019) Research Director at ISAC-CNR. He is coordinator of the macroarea of ISAC-CNR research in Atmospheric composition, climate forcing and air quality. His research activity is mainly experimental and focused on atmospheric sciences. Currently, research interests could be summarized in four main lines: (i) Identification and characterization of atmospheric particulate matter sources, using both high-resolution temporal measurements and receptor models based on the chemical composition of the particulate, and their spatial and temporal trends; (ii) health and toxicological effects of atmospheric particulate matter due to both natural and anthropogenic sources; (iii) study of atmospheric particulate dynamics in the surface boundary layer with particular attention to nucleation, emission, and deposition processes. (iv) analysis and parameterization of the dispersion of atmospheric pollutants also using physical modelling on a reduced scale in a wind tunnel and/or in a hydraulic vein. Throughout his career he has established numerous and successful research collaborations with leading international groups in the field of atmospheric and climate sciences. He had coordination responsibility in a number of research projects at regional, national, and international level. Dr. Daniele Contini is the President (since 2018) of the Italian Aerosol Society (IAS) and he is the Chair of the working group “Atmospheric Aerosol Studies” of the European Aerosol Assembly (since 2022). He is PI of the Environmental-Climate Observatory (ECO) of Lecce, regional station of the GAW/WMO-Global Atmosphere Watch network and national facility of the ACTRIS network. Daniela Cesari is a senior researcher at the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate-CNR since 2013. She received her M.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Salento (2005) and PhD degree in Environmental Science from the University of Urbino “Carlo Bo” (2010). Since 2006, she worked in the CNR ISAC with different fellowships, gaining an in-depth knowledge on the aerosol dynamics in atmosphere. Her research interests are focused on the atmospheric composition, atmospheric aerosols and their sources, in terms of temporal and spatial variability. Currently she is also interested in the study of new metrics for evaluating the aerosol human health effects. Dr. Daniela Cesari has published 51 articles with H-index 29. Dr. Daniela Cesari is an associate editor of Atmospheric Environment (Elsevier) and an editorial board member of Atmosphere (MDPI), as well as the member of scientific committee for the Italian Conference “PM” organized by the Italian Aerosol Society (2019-now) and the international Conference “EAC” organized by the European Aerosol Assembly (2021-now).

• 1. Global Environmental Change2. Integrated Observation System3. Principles in Artificial Intelligence4. Specific Artificial Intelligence in Digital Earth5. Geospatial Artificial Intelligence6. Atmospheric Particulate Matters7. Source Apportionment and Tracking8. Commercializing AI Techniques in Digital Earth