National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Aboveground Biomass Focus Area Contributions to International Structures

GCOS

GCOS target requirements for Biomass were set as follows (GCOS-200):

LPV Biomass contributes toward action items T36, T52, T53, T54, T55, T56 (2016 IP, GCOS-200).

Biomass Dashboard

The CEOS WGCV LPV Biomass Focus Area, in collaboration with the CEOS Land Surface Imaging - Virtual Constellation (LSI-VC) Forests & Biomass focus area, and others within CEOS contributing to the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) global stocktake, have created dashboard for the visualization of biomass products.

The Biomass Earthdata Dashboard was created by the NASA-ESA Multi-mission Algorithm and Analysis Platform (MAAP), and multiple biomass products are currently being analyzed through an open science Biomass Harmonization Activity that utilizes the MAAP.

CEOS Agency Biomass Missions

There are currently ten BIOMASS-relevant missions expected to provide biomass estimations this decade.

The biomass focus area is engaged with the CEOS agencies involved, and will collaborate on site information and protocol development to maximize the utility of data, tools, and information for the benefit of all missions.

Below are details of recent and upcoming missions related to biomass estimation. At right are two recent successful mission launches.

Mission	Agency	Launch Date	Data Type	Measurement Resolution	Product Resolution	Spatial Coverage	Accurary Requirements
ICESat-2	NASA	09/2018	532 nm photon counting lidar	13m footprint aggregated to 100 m transect	NA	Global	NA
SAOCOM- 1A	CONAE	10/2018	L band SAR	10-100m depending on mode	NA	Global	NA
GEDI	NASA	12/2018	1064 nm waveform lidar	25 m circular footprint	1 km2	Global btw ±52° N/S	<20% standard error for 80% of forested 1 km cells
SAOCOM-1B	CONAE	08/2020	L band SAR	10-100m depending on mode	NA	Global	NA
ALOS-4	JAXA	(2022)	L band SAR	1-25 m depending on mode	NA	Global	NA
NISAR	NASA-ISRO	(2023)	L band SAR	3-10 m (depends on mode)	1 ha	Global	<20% RMSE for <100 Mg/ha
BIOMASS	ESA	(2022)	P band SAR	60 x 50 m with >6 looks	4 ha	Global (restricted in W Europe/US)	<20% RMSE for AGB >50 Mg/ha; 10 Mg/ha for AGB ≤50 Mg/ha
MOLI	JAXA	(2023)	1064 nm waveform lidar	25 m circular footprint	250 m	Global btw ±52° N/S	20 Mg/ha for <100 Mg/ha; 25% for >100 Mg/ha
TANDEM-L	DLR	(2023)	L band SAR	TBD	1 ha	Global	20% accuracy or 20 Mg/ha
Copernicus HPCM ROSE-L	ESA	(2027)	L band SAR	TBD	1 ha	Global	TBD

SDCG for GFOI

The CEOS ad hoc Space Data Coordination Group (SDCG) for the Global Forest Observations Initiative (GFOI) was created to support the GFOI and forest carbon tracking. The biomass focus area collaborates with the SDCG and GFOI and together will promote the uptake of the forthcoming biomass protocol.

MAAP: ESA-NASA Multi-mission Algorithm and Analysis Platform

NASA and ESA have collaborated on a project together to support aboveground biomass research. The project is called the Multi-Mission Alogrithm and Analysis Platform (MAAP). The MAAP project will bring together data, algorithms and compute together in a cloud environment to address challenges of sharing and processing multiple data sources related to NASA and ESA missions, such as BIOMASS, NISAR, and GEDI.

GEO-TREES

GEO-TREES: Forest Biomass Reference System from Tree-by-Tree Inventory Data. This is a community-led activity to support the ongoing collection of new high-quality biomass reference data and the distribution and sharing of these data, building on existing networks and partnerships. This project, initiated in January 2021, was borne out of the CEOS LPV Validation Protocol development effort, and has recently received a very large (12M USD) investment from the Bezos Earth Fund.  The GEO-Trees efforts will be coordinated by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institution.