The European Space Agency (ESA) has released its most extensive, satellite-based maps of above-ground forest carbon to date. Spanning nearly two decades, this dataset offers an unparalleled global picture of how forest carbon stocks have changed over time. The dataset, which includes data from various Earth-observing satellites such as ESA’s Envisat, Europe’s Copernicus Sentinel-1, Japan’s ALOS PALSAR, and NASA’s ICESat and GEDI lidar missions, marks a significant advancement in monitoring forest carbon.
It tracks the carbon-rich woody parts of vegetation, such as trunks and branches, across the globe from 2007 to 2022 at resolutions ranging from 100 meters to 50 kilometers. As the new Biomass satellite settles into orbit, it promises to further enhance these measurements. This satellite, equipped with the first spaceborne P-band radar, capable of penetrating thick forest canopies, is expected to significantly reduce uncertainties in forest carbon estimates, particularly in dense tropical regions like the Amazon, Central Africa, and Southeast Asia.
ESA’s Frank Martin Seifert remarked, “The new release, version 6, provides an unprecedented level of consistency and timeliness in the provision of above-ground biomass estimates globally.
Enhancing forest carbon measurement with satellites
This empowers researchers and policymakers alike to track carbon dynamics with the temporal precision necessary for meaningful climate action.”
Forests play a critical role in the global carbon cycle by storing large amounts of carbon as biomass.
As forests grow, carbon stock increases, but it can be rapidly released back into the atmosphere through deforestation and wildfires, contributing to rising carbon dioxide levels and accelerating climate change. The dataset’s improvements are attributed to close cooperation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and refinements in the biomass retrieval algorithm. These refinements have resulted in more consistent and reliable information across the world’s forest biomes, though it remains most accurate up to 400 metric tons of biomass per hectare.
Richard Lucas of Aberystwyth University, who leads ESA’s Climate Change Initiative Biomass Project, stated, “The new dataset provides a much more accurate representation of global forest biomass, particularly in regions where earlier versions underestimated high-density forests.” However, Lucas noted that challenges remain in capturing the most carbon-rich ecosystems. Maurizio Santoro from Gamma Remote Sensing in Switzerland added, “When assessed against independent reference data from all over the world, the new maps are of higher quality. Nevertheless, better characterization of the states and dynamics of carbon stored in vegetation is still necessary, which will be facilitated by ingesting additional satellite data from past missions and from future satellites.”
The ESA Climate Change Initiative Biomass Dataset Version 6 is available for free and offers invaluable insights for climate modeling, forest management, and national greenhouse-gas reporting activities under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Paris Agreement.
Image Credits: Photo by NASA on Unsplash
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