The Earth Explorer Biomass satellite to launch this monthThursday 24 Apr 2025 ESA’s state-of-the-art Biomass mission has been designed to shed new light on the health and dynamics of the world’s forests, revealing how they are changing over time and, critically, enhancing our understanding of their role in the global carbon cycle.It is the first satellite to carry a fully polarimetric P-band synthetic aperture radar for interferometric imaging. Thanks to the long wavelength of P-band, around 70 cm, the radar signal can slice through the forest canopy and whole forest layer to measure the ‘biomass’, meaning the woody trunks, branches and stems, which is where trees store most of their carbon. Forests play a crucial role in Earth’s carbon cycle by absorbing and storing large amounts of carbon from atmosphere – therefore helping to keep our planet cool. However, as swathes of forest continue to be cleared, carbon is being released back into the atmosphere and exacerbating climate change. From 666 km above, the Biomass instrument will be able to ‘see’ through the leafy forest canopy and measure the height of the trees. This information will be used to work out how much biomass – a proxy for carbon – is being stored in forests. This will reduce the major uncertainties in calculations of carbon stocks and fluxes on land, including carbon fluxes associated with land-use change, forest degradation and forest regrowth. The ESA Earth Explorer Biomass satellite will launch on a Vega-C rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on 29 April 2025. More >> Source: ESA |
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