| 1. |
- Quegan, S., et al.
(författare)
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The European Space Agency BIOMASS mission: Measuring forest above-ground biomass from space
- 2019
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Ingår i: Remote Sensing of Environment. - : Elsevier BV. - 0034-4257. ; 227, s. 44-60
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The primary objective of the European Space Agency's 7th Earth Explorer mission, BIOMASS, is to determine the worldwide distribution of forest above-ground biomass (AGB) in order to reduce the major uncertainties in calculations of carbon stocks and fluxes associated with the terrestrial biosphere, including carbon fluxes associated with Land Use Change, forest degradation and forest regrowth. To meet this objective it will carry, for the first time in space, a fully polarimetric P-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR). Three main products will be provided: global maps of both AGB and forest height, with a spatial resolution of 200 m, and maps of severe forest disturbance at 50 m resolution (where “global” is to be understood as subject to Space Object tracking radar restrictions). After launch in 2022, there will be a 3-month commissioning phase, followed by a 14-month phase during which there will be global coverage by SAR tomography. In the succeeding interferometric phase, global polarimetric interferometry Pol-InSAR coverage will be achieved every 7 months up to the end of the 5-year mission. Both Pol-InSAR and TomoSAR will be used to eliminate scattering from the ground (both direct and double bounce backscatter) in forests. In dense tropical forests AGB can then be estimated from the remaining volume scattering using non-linear inversion of a backscattering model. Airborne campaigns in the tropics also indicate that AGB is highly correlated with the backscatter from around 30 m above the ground, as measured by tomography. In contrast, double bounce scattering appears to carry important information about the AGB of boreal forests, so ground cancellation may not be appropriate and the best approach for such forests remains to be finalized. Several methods to exploit these new data in carbon cycle calculations have already been demonstrated. In addition, major mutual gains will be made by combining BIOMASS data with data from other missions that will measure forest biomass, structure, height and change, including the NASA Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation lidar deployed on the International Space Station after its launch in December 2018, and the NASA-ISRO NISAR L- and S-band SAR, due for launch in 2022. More generally, space-based measurements of biomass are a core component of a carbon cycle observation and modelling strategy developed by the Group on Earth Observations. Secondary objectives of the mission include imaging of sub-surface geological structures in arid environments, generation of a true Digital Terrain Model without biases caused by forest cover, and measurement of glacier and icesheet velocities. In addition, the operations needed for ionospheric correction of the data will allow very sensitive estimates of ionospheric Total Electron Content and its changes along the dawn-dusk orbit of the mission.
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| 2. |
- Le Toan, T., et al.
(författare)
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Biomass retrieval from P-band polarimetric and interferometric SAR data, challenges and recent results
- 2014
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Ingår i: Joint 2014 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, IGARSS 2014 and the 35th Canadian Symposium on Remote Sensing, CSRS 2014; Quebec City; Canada; 13 July 2014 through 18 July 2014. - 9781479957750 ; , s. 1417-1420
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the frame of the Biomass mission activities, this paper presents the challenges and recent results in the retrieval of forest biomass from polarimetric (PolSAR) and interferometric (PolInSAR) P-band SAR data. During the mission Phase A, critical issues in the biomass retrieval algorithms in boreal and tropical forests have been identified and addressed. In boreal forest, multi polarization backscatter data can be used to mitigate much of the variability due to environment effects. In high biomass tropical forest, because of the low sensitivity of the backscatter to biomass, appropriate correction methods were developed to mitigate the disturbing effects. Also to enhance the retrieval results, a combination of PolSAR and PolInSAR methods was proposed.
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| 3. |
- Le Toan, T., et al.
(författare)
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The BIOMASS mission: Mapping global forest biomass to better understand the terrestrial carbon cycle
- 2011
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Ingår i: Remote Sensing of Environment. - : Elsevier BV. - 0034-4257. ; 115, s. 2850-2860
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In response to the urgent need for improved mapping of global biomass and the lack of any current spacesystems capable of addressing this need, the BIOMASS mission was proposed to the European Space Agency forthe third cycle of Earth Explorer Core missions and was selected for Feasibility Study (Phase A) in March 2009.The objectives of the mission are 1) to quantify the magnitude and distribution of forest biomass globally toimprove resource assessment, carbon accounting and carbon models, and 2) tomonitor and quantify changesin terrestrial forest biomass globally, on an annual basis or better, leading to improved estimates of terrestrialcarbon sources (primarily from deforestation); and terrestrial carbon sinks due to forest regrowth andafforestation. These science objectives require the mission to measure above-ground forest biomass from 70° Nto 56° S at spatial scale of 100–200 m, with error not exceeding ±20% or ±10 t ha−1 and forest height witherror of ±4 m. To meet the measurement requirements, the mission will carry a P-Band polarimetric SAR(centre frequency 435 MHz with 6 MHz bandwidth) with interferometric capability, operating in a dawn-duskorbit with a constant incidence angle (in the range of 25°–35°) and a 25–45 day repeat cycle. During its 5-yearlifetime, the mission will be capable of providing both direct measurements of biomass derived from intensitydata and measurements of forest height derived from polarimetric interferometry. The design of the BIOMASSmission spins together two main observational strands: (1) the long heritage of airborne observations intropical, temperate and boreal forest that have demonstrated the capabilities of P-band SAR for measuringforest biomass; (2) new developments in recovery of forest structure including forest height from Pol-InSAR,and, crucially, the resistance of P-band to temporal decorrelation, which makes this frequency uniquelysuitable for biomass measurements with a single repeat-pass satellite. These two complementarymeasurement approaches are combined in the single BIOMASS sensor, and have the satisfying property thatincreasing biomass reduces the sensitivity of the former approach while increasing the sensitivity of the latter.This paper surveys the body of evidence built up over the last decade, from a wide range of airborneexperiments, which illustrates the ability of such a sensor to provide the required measurements.At present, the BIOMASS P-band radar appears to be the only sensor capable of providing the necessary globalknowledge about the world's forest biomass and its changes. In addition, this first chance to explore the Earth'senvironment with a long wavelength satellite SAR is expected to make yield new information in a range ofgeoscience areas, including subsurface structure in arid lands and polar ice, and forest inundation dynamics.
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| 4. |
- Le Toan, T., et al.
(författare)
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The BIOMASS mission retrieval algorithms: Results from recent campaigns
- 2012
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Ingår i: Proc. IGARSS 2012, IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Munich, Germany, 22-27 July 2012. - 2153-6996. - 9781467311588 ; , s. 5546-5549
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The BIOMASS mission is designed to map the full range of the world's above-ground forest biomass, for the needs of national scale inventory and global carbon flux calculations. This objective is achieved with advanced P-band SAR techniques. The P-band biomass measurement concept was based on previous work over the past two decades. During the preparatory phase, new campaigns have been conducted to address critical issues on the biomass retrieval algorithms, over tropical and boreal forests. The collected datasets comprise accurate and complete sets of in situ data and advanced P-band SAR data. This paper presents the retrieval algorithms developed using the collected datasets.
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| 5. |
- Melon, P., et al.
(författare)
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On the retrieving of forest stem volume from VHF SAR data : Observation and modeling
- 2001
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Ingår i: IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). - 0196-2892 .- 1558-0644. ; 39:11, s. 2364-2372
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The objective of this paper is to investigate the relationships between VHF data and forest biomass using data acquired by the Airborne Imaging Radar CARABAS over two different pine plantation forests in southern France. Data are analyzed using detailed ground truth measurements available on both sites. The backscattering coefficient is strongly correlated to characteristics of the tree trunk. Signal saturation is not observed up to 900 m3/ha. However, the sensitivity to the volume is high in the range of 0-500 M3/ha (e.g., 1 to 1.5 dB for 50 m3/ha), whereas it is reduced beyond 500 m3/ha (< 0.5 dB for 50 m3/ha). The experimental analysis is supported by theoretical modeling using a coherent backscatter model based on the distorted Born approximation coupled with a tree growth model giving a fine and precise description of the trees at both sites. The modeling results show that the trunk is the main scatterer, but that, when the branch dimensions are not insignificant compared to trunk dimension, branch scattering needs to be accounted for. However, since the two species under study are both coniferous, branch dimensions are relatively small compared to trunk dimension. This explains no significant differences observed in the backscatter behavior between both sites, except for mature stands with low stem density. Finally, the effect of topography is investegated both experimentally, using using a digital elevation model (DEM), and theoretically with the coherent model. The loss of sensitivity to stem volume due to slope is clearly demonstrated and explained by the decrease of the dihedral trunk-ground interaction as the slope increases.
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| 6. |
- Quegan, S., et al.
(författare)
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The science and measurement concepts underlying the BIOMASS mission
- 2012
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Ingår i: Proc. IGARSS 2012, IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Munich, Germany, 22-27 July 2012. - 2153-6996. - 9781467311588 ; , s. 5542-5545
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The BIOMASS mission is designed to provide unique information on the biomass in the world's forests at spatial and temporal resolutions suitable for characterizing their dynamics and their contribution to carbon cycle estimates. To achieve this it combines biomass estimates from direct inversion of polarimetric backscattering coefficients with Pol-InSAR forest height estimates. The mission will also support important secondary objectives, including sub-surface imaging in arid zones, production of a bare-earth DTM and ice applications, and is optimized to be robust against environmental and ionospheric disturbances.
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| 7. |
- Sandberg, Gustaf, 1982, et al.
(författare)
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Comparison of L- and P-band biomass retrievals based on backscatter from the BioSAR campaign
- 2009
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Ingår i: Proceedings of IGARSS 2009 Symposium, Earth Observation – Origins to Applications, Cape Town, South Africa, 13-17 July, 2009. - 9781424433957 ; IV, s. 169-172
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- With the continued threat of global warming, the need to obtain consistent and accurate measurements of the carbon stored in forests is strong. L- and P-band SAR backscatter data have shown to be sensitive to forest biomass, which in turn is coupled to the stored carbon. In this paper a biomass retrieval method is developed for L- and P-band using data from the BioSAR campaign conducted in Sweden during thespring 2007 over hemi-boreal forest. The results show that the use of L-band data gives an underestimation of biomass for stands with high biomass; while for P-band no such underestimation is seen. RMSEs are found to be 30-40% of the mean biomass for L-band and about 25% for P-band for stands with biomass ranging from 10 to 290 tons/ha.
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| 8. |
- Sandberg, Gustaf, 1982, et al.
(författare)
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L- and P-band backscatter intensity for biomass retrieval in hemiboreal forest
- 2011
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Ingår i: Remote Sensing of Environment. - : Elsevier BV. - 0034-4257 .- 1879-0704. ; 115:11, s. 2874 - 2886
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- At present, the greatest source of uncertainty in the global carbon cycle is in the terrestrial ecosystems. In orderto reduce these uncertainties it is necessary to provide consistent and accurate global estimates of the worldforest biomass. One of the most promising methods for obtaining such estimates is through polarimetric SARbackscatter measurements at low frequencies. In this paper, the relation between polarimetric SAR backscatterat L- and P-bands and forest biomass is investigated using data acquired within the BioSAR-I campaign insouthern Sweden during 2007. Methods for estimating biomass on stand level using these data are developedand evaluated, and the results for the two frequency bands are compared. For L-band data, the best results wereobtained using HV-polarized backscatter only, giving estimation errors in terms of root mean square errors(RMSE) between 31% and 46% of the mean biomass for stands with biomass ranging from 10 to 290 t/ha, and an(adjusted) coefficient of determination (R2) between 0.4 and 0.6. For P-band data, the results are better thanfor L-band. Models using HV- or HH-polarized P-band backscatter give similar results, as does a modelincluding both HV and HH. The RMSEs were between 18 and 27%, and the R2 values were between 0.7 and 0.8.
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Tebaldini, S., et al.
(författare)
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Biomass Level-2 Products - Part II: Processing Schemes and AGB Estimation Results from Campaign Data
- 2021
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Ingår i: International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS). ; 2021-July, s. 783-786
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Scheduled for launch in 2023, ESA's seventh Earth Explorer Mission, BIOMASS, will carry the first P-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) to be flown in space, to gather fully polarimetric acquisitions over forested areas worldwide in interferometric and tomographic modes. This paper presents the algorithms developed to estimate biophysical parameters from BIOMASS measurements and their implementation in the BIOMASS level 2 (L2) prototype processor. The L2 processor will generate global maps of forest Above Ground Biomass (AGB), Forest Height (FH), Forest disturbance (FD). Accurate generation of these products requires the L2 processor to be closely inter-linked with the BIOMASS interferometric processor, in order to produce phase-calibrated interferometric stacks, retrieve sub-canopy terrain topography, and generate a 3D representation of forest structure by use of SAR tomography. AGB estimation results are here shown using BIOMASS-like acquisitions derived from campaign data acquired over six tropical forests in South America and Equatorial Africa.
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