Aviation is and remains one of the key infrastructures of our modern world, and recently aviation vulnerability with regards to natural hazards was demonstrated. The scientific studies presented in this special issue should support the capabilities to respond to disasters effectively and efficiently, minimizing system downtimes and thus economic damage while enhancing the safety of millions of passengers. In particular, this special issue focuses on the aviation hazard category that is referred to as “airborne hazards” (environmental emergency scenarios), including, for example, volcanic eruptions, nuclear accidents, forest fires, and desert dust events.

The augmented use of numerical prediction models and their combination with observational products from ground and satellite platforms allows a holistic representation of the state of the environment and also improvement of useful and efficient early-warning information in case of an emergency and predictions of the hazardous event and its impact. Papers should focus on the tailoring of relevant Earth observations in the frame of early-warning systems and assimilation and evaluation of Earth observations with dispersion models.

The special issue is mainly based on but not limited to the developments and advancements made under the EUNADICS-AV H2020 project.