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In April 2025, ESA launched the Earth Explorer BIOMASS. Its mission is to improve our understanding on the role of the land biosphere on the global carbon cycle, with clear implications in a context of climate change. With the help of remote sensing, the mission is the first with an operational space-borne P-Band SAR, it will collect data on the state of mainly tropical forests.
The Project Office BIOMASS is a collaboration of the Max-Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ). We aim to
- synthesize, produce and disseminate relevant information within the national BIOMASS community
- identify gaps
- investigate solutions within the context of the BIOMASS mission
- establish communication to maintain a necessary dialogue within the broader context of the BIOMASS mission.
The Coordinated German Contribution to the BIOMASS Cal/Val Activities is a collaboration of the Max-Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) and the Technical University Dresden (TUD), supported by University of Maryland and Wilderness International. We aim to
- collection of extensive databases of opportunity by and harmonising reference data from airborne LiDAR, drone imagery, and legacy radar transect
- design observational campaigns to span the existing observational domains and forest density gradients
- validate BIOMASS products for above-ground biomass densities (AGBD), forest height (FH) and forest change / disturbances (FD)
- utilize process-based modelling frameworks to support high level data interpretation and cross-variable consistency
For our community, we host
- Regular webinars on topics related to BIOMASS science and applications
- Summer schools on the upcoming BIOMASS mission and its context in current research goals
- Tutorials and background information on the BIOMASS mission via the eo-college
- Support for the DLR's PolInSAR courses
