Carreiras, J. orcid.org/0000-0003-2737-9420, Quegan, S., Le Toan, T. et al. (5 more authors) (2017) Coverage of high biomass forests by the ESA BIOMASS mission under defense restrictions. Remote Sensing of Environment, 196. pp. 154-162. ISSN 0034-4257
Abstract
The magnitude of the global terrestrial carbon pool and related fluxes to and from the atmosphere are still poorly known. The European Space Agency P-band radar BIOMASS mission will help to reduce this uncertainty by providing unprecedented information on the distribution of forest above-ground biomass (AGB), particularly in the tropics where the gaps are greatest and knowledge is most needed. Mission selection was made in full knowledge of coverage restrictions over Europe, North and Central America imposed by the US Department of Defense Space Objects Tracking Radar (SOTR) stations. Under these restrictions, only 3% of AGB carbon stock coverage is lost in the tropical forest biome, with this biome representing 66% of global AGB carbon stocks in 2005. The loss is more significant in the temperate (72%), boreal (37%) and subtropical (29%) biomes, with these accounting for approximately 12%, 15% and 7%, respectively, of the global forest AGB carbon stocks. In terms of global carbon cycle modelling, there is minimal impact in areas of high AGB density, since mainly lower biomass forests in cooler climates are affected. In addition, most areas affected by the SOTR stations are located in industrialized countries with well-developed national forest inventories, so that extensive information on AGB is already available. Hence the main scientific objectives of the BIOMASS mission are not seriously compromised. Furthermore, several space sensors that can estimate AGB in lower biomass forests are in orbit or planned for launch between now and the launch of BIOMASS in 2021, which will help to fill the gaps in mission coverage.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) |
Keywords: | European Space Agency; BIOMASS mission; Space Objects Tracking Radar (SOTR); Forest coverage; Forest above ground biomass; Global carbon cycle modelling |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Mathematics and Statistics (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL NONE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL UNSPECIFIED NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL None |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 16 May 2017 09:35 |
Last Modified: | 23 Jun 2017 14:53 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2017.05.003 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.rse.2017.05.003 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:116489 |