1. BIOMASS: first steps from selection to reality
Shaun Quegan
University of Sheffield
CTCD - National Centre for Earth Observation

2. Structure of talk
What does BIOMASS do and why? What is it? Where are we? What needs doing?

3. Biomass will map forest biomass, height and
change with unprecedented accuracy
Forest biomass and forest height:
global, 200 m scale, every 6 months for 4 years, 20% accuracy in biomass, 20-30% accuracy in height
Disturbances: global, at 50 m scale
BIOMASS will produce a series of global maps of forest biomass, forest height and forest disturbance at a precision, accuracy and resolution that will revolutionise our knowledge of the biosphere, its dynamics, and its interactions with the atmosphere.
Specifically, these maps will help answer an urgent question: “What is the role of biomass in the global carbon cycle?”

4. Biomass is strongly linked to societal benefits
Forest biomass is basic to the energy, material, environmental protection, biodiversity & cultural benefits offered by forests
Note : ~80% of the energy use in sub-Saharan Africa comes from biomass burning

5. Largest biomass uncertainty
Biomass is needed to calculate carbon fluxes, so crucial for climate and treaties
Land use
change
Land use change
reforestation
fire & climate warming
drought
pests
regrowth
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation & Degradation (UN-REDD+)
Global Forest Observations Initiative
Where are biomass estimates most uncertain and where are the critical zones of forest change? The Tropics and Asia have limited inventory systems, and incomplete data. The tropics have high biomass and ongoing LUC.
Climate change, including warming and drought may have impacts in tropical and boreal zones. Reforestation is occurring in China at high rates. Pests and forest regrowth are documented in North America.
The UN programme on reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation is focused on the tropics, as this is where LUC occurs - but lacks appropriate data to determine biomass changes.
***********
Be prepared to mention SOTR
Largest biomass uncertainty

6. (Polarimetric SAR Interferometry)
The Biomass mission will make 3 types of measurement relevant to biomass
PolSAR
(SAR Polarimetry)
PolInSAR
(Polarimetric SAR Interferometry) x y z o
TomoSAR
(SAR Tomography) x y z o x y z o

7. Timeline
May 2013: BIOMASS selected November 2013: 1st meeting of the new Mission Advisory Group; Phase B1 industrial BIOMASS design studies placed. June 2014: 2nd MAG meeting Activities around African airborne and in situ campaign. KO of initial science studies (Level 2 studies; in situ networks) October 2014: B1 studies completed November 2014: review by PBEO and approval for phase B2 March 2015: ITT for Phase B2 June 2015: Phase B2/C/D begins 2020: Planned launch date

8. Mission budget
Total budget = €470M Industrial return = €220M; this must satisfy geo-return Science budget = €10M. Implication: national funding is crucial to develop the science programme underpinning BIOMASS

9. Calibration is crucial, and teaches us about the ionosphere
07/22/12
Calibration is crucial, and teaches us about the ionosphere
Orbit cycle n
Orbit cycle n+1
Calibration, Ionospheric correction
Polarimetry HH HV VV
Phasedifferences
Polarimetry +
Interferometry
Retrieval algorithm
The need to map biomass drives us immediately towards radar.
Optical sensors see biochemistry, radar sensitive to structure.
What sort of radar?
Polarimetry (figs on R)
Repeat pass for interferometry
Both critical as we can see
Forest biomass
Forest height
Forest disturbance 9

10. Campaign data for testing retrieval methods and assessing performance
Krycklan
Remningstorp
Alaska
Landes
Maine
La Selva,
Costa Rica
Paracou
F.Guiana
Kalimantan
Colombia
Major recent ESA campaigns:
Kalimantan 2004 (Indrex)
Remningstorp 2007 (BioSAR 1), 2010 (BioSAR 3)
Krycklan 2008 (BioSAR 2)
F. Guiana 2009 (TropiSAR), (TropiScat)
ESA campaigns
non-ESA campaigns

11. Working with key worldwide in situ networks
In situ network led by Smithsonian, including Centre for Tropical Forest Science
Rainfor
Afritron

12. Global consistency in the biomass – P-band backscatter relationship: why?
Similar power-law relationships between backscatter and biomass are found for all forests where we have data:
Inversion techniques need to deal with data dispersion and differences between different types of forest

13. Exploiting biomass data to learn about forest mortality
If rate of loss of biomass is proportional to biomass, with rate coefficient α, residence time then
where is mean production of biomass.
What can we infer about forest mortality from current sub-optimal estimates of biomass and Net Production?

14. Final Remarks Six years is not long, and a lot needs to be done.
BIOMASS relies on supporting science activities and can provide a framework around which science activities can cluster, to mutual benefit
There is a need to grow the community of scientists interacting with the BIOMASS mission, especially younger scientists
Six years is a long time for some of us!

16. Area (Millions of hectares)
Global forest cover & biomass distribution is concentrated within the tropics
Total Forest Area: 31% of the land surface
Forest Biome
Area (Millions of hectares)
Biomass
(tons/hectare)
Total Biomass
(gigatons)
Boreal
1372
83-128
Temperate
1038
Tropical
1755
TOTAL
4165
mean
We know that global forest cover & biomass distribution is concentrated within the tropics. There are significant forests also located in temperate and boreal latitudes. In all cases the is significant uncertainty among current biomass estimates. Even the total global biomass estimates vary by a factor of two.
ESA GlobCover map
Biomass is concentrated within the tropics – but the numbers shown here have large uncertainties particularly around the equator
Upscaling is key because of the global distribution of forests – their enormous extent is a major challenge to monitoring.
The map shows the distribution of forests globally – greener colours reflect more biomass. T
Pan et al., 2011; Houghton et al.,2009

17. Forest biomass plays a key role in the carbon cycle and hence in climate change
Biomass is ~50% carbon. Changes in forest biomass represent carbon sources (deforestation and forest degradation) and carbon sinks (forest growth).
Forest biomass is crucial in the 2 fluxes on the right – but these are tied to GCP numbers

18. ESA’s 7th Earth Explorer mission
My name is Mathew Williams. I am an ecologist from the University of Edinburgh. I am here to present the scientific justification for the BIOMASS mission. My colleagues will continue the presentation – detailing the mission concept, the measurement system, and the performance