Biomass will achieve this using a ‘synthetic aperture radar’ to send down signals from orbit and record the resulting backscatter, building up maps of tree height and volume. To see through leafy treetop to the trees themselves, Biomass will employ long-wavelength ‘P-band’ radar, which has never previously flown in space. It will have its signals amplified to travel down from a 600-km altitude orbit down to Earth and back.

Tech

Satellite mission to ‘weigh’ Earth’s 1.5 trillion trees underway

15 days ago 1:23

ESA launches Biomass satellite to map forest carbon, using radar to measure tropical biomass and improve climate data on carbon storage.

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