Drafting Science, Apr 24 (EFE) .- Forests will be the objective of the new mission of the European space Agency (ESA) with the launch next week from Biomass, which will provide data on their state and evolution, to improve knowledge about the role they have in the carbon cycle.
A mission that will observe the forest biomass on the ground, that is, the logs, branches and woody stems, where the trees store most of the carbon, which will be possible thanks to the fact that it is the first satellite that incorporates a R -band radar capable of penetrating into the interior of the forests.
The biomass satellite is The seventh mission of the Earth Explorers Program And their scientific objectives “focus on carbon, carbon flows and everything related to biomass,” the director of Earth Observation Programs, Simonetta Cheli, explained on Thursday.
The forests cover approximately one third of the earth, most of the tropics, and it is estimated that every year they absorb about 8,000 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) of the atmosphere, which converts into carbon that is stored in biomass.
Biomass, key to measuring carbon storage of forests
Measuring biomass can be used as a carbon indicator stored by forests, whose quantification is the main objective of the Biomass mission.
Evaluating the storage and change of forest carbon is key to understanding the carbon cycle of the Earth, which plays a fundamental role in our climate.
Cheli stressed that forests house 80 % of biodiversity and recalled that about 100 kilometers of tropical forests are lost every day.
“With these parameters the importance of monitoring them is immediately understood, but also of better understanding the role they play in the carbon cycle,” he added.
International cooperation
In the development of the mission they have collaborated, for nine years, 20 European countries, Canada and the United States. The main contractor, Airbus United Kingdom, has led a consortium of more than 80 companies, which the person responsible for ESE described as “an excellent team work.”
The data that Biomass takes from space, at an altitude of 666 kilometers, will also be validated on the ground, for which there are agreements with countries like Brazil, he said.
In addition, data sets will be exchanged with other agencies around the world, in the context of collaboration against climate change.
As for cooperation, Cheli was asked about whether the changes in the United States are concerned, to which he pointed out that “there is enough uncertainty” and they still have no “clear indication in terms of the instructions of the new NASA administrator”, although there are “indications of the government to disconnect from the climate convention.”
The collaboration between ESA and the US continues and “we cannot prejudge what will happen in terms of data flow, willingness to exchange data sets”, so “we are evaluating it very closely,” said Cheli and added that “they interact weekly with NASA’s partners to closely follow the evolution and the possible repercussions.”
Innovative satellite
The maximum innovation of biomass – he said – is that it is the first satellite equipped with a synthetic band opening radar, which can penetrate through the tree cup to the ground, measure its height and biomass uniformly.
These data provide crucial information about the structure of the forest, which will allow scientists to estimate biomass, height and, ultimately, carbon content.
Biomass will take off the next day 29, from the European Space Port of Kuru, in the French Guiana, at 06.15 local time (09:15 GMT) aboard a Vega-C, said the director of Space Transport of ESA, Toni Tolker-Nielsen, who said that all are “hands to work” to ensure the success of that mission.
The Vega-C is a “very important to Europe” pitcher, which has made “a brilliant return” to the activity, which resumed last December, after two years of break due to the failure of its first commercial mission. EFE
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