biomass TO OBSERVE FOREST BIOMASS FOR A BETTER

biomass TO OBSERVE FOREST BIOMASS FOR A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE CARBON CYCLE

The global carbon cycle

BIOMASS objectives and purpose Objective of BIOMASS mission: to make accurate, frequent and global measurements of the distribution of forest biomass and its changes scales comparable with forest changes, and hence unprecedented information on status and dynamics of the Earth’s forests. Crucial for: • Quantifying land use change (emissions & uptake) • Scientific support for international treaties • Landscape scale carbon dynamics and prediction • Initialising and testing the land element of ESMs • Forest ecosystem services & biodiversity

How well is biomass known? Interpolation Land cover map Estimates of total biomass vary from 39 to 93 Gt. C Model + Satellite Interpolation 44 Brown Defries Brown and Lugo Olson Potter Fearnside Carbon (t. C/ha) <= 100 101 -150 151 -171 176 -200 201 -225 226+

Tropical forest aboveground biomass maps Two recent maps of Amazonian biomass – radically different

Relation radar backscatter signal-above ground biomass at L, P, VHF bands Landes forest, France L-band SAR: RAMSES P-band SAR: Air. SAR VHF SAR: Carabas

The sensitivity of P-band radar to biomass

Observation concept – P-band satellite radar Orbit cycle n Calibration, Ionospheric correction Orbit cycle n+1 Polarimetric Interferometric Phase HH Polarimetric radar intensity HV VV Retrieval algorithm Geophysical products Forest biomass Forest height Forest biomass change Forest disturbance Phase

P-band forest height retrieval – tropical forest Mawas, Indonesia 50 40 30 20 10 0 m

Tomography

150 Les Landes RMSE = 9. 46 t/ha 0 150 In situ biomass (t/ha) Estimated biomass (t/ha) `300 Biomass (t/ha) Estimated biomass (t/ha) Forest biomass retrieval at P-band RMSE = 47. 2 t/ha 0 `300 In situ biomass (t/ha) Remningstorp

Improving biomass retrieval using polarisation & height Polarised intensities only Biomass (t/ha) Intensity retrieval RMSE= 35. 6 t/ha Intensity + height Height (m) 40 Height retrieval RMSE= 16. 3 t/ha 30 20 10 0 m

Current status 1. Report for Selection submitted, exception for performance chapter 2. Ministerial conference towards the end of 2012 3. If (2) goes well, Consultation Meeting early 2013, selection within a couple of weeks 4. If (2) goes badly. .