ESA’s Biomass goes live with data now open to all

Launching in April 2025, BIOMASS – an ESA Earth Explorer mission – is now set to deliver unprecedented insight into how the world’s forests are changing and how much carbon they store. It is the first satellite to carry a P-band synthetic aperture radar, capable of penetrating dense forest canopies to measure woody biomass, including the trunk and larger branches, where most of the forest carbon occurs.

These measurements provide a robust proxy for carbon storage, the assessment of which is central to the mission objectives.

After the satellite was launched and placed in orbit around Earth, the Biomass team spent several months carefully calibrating and fine-tuning it during the commissioning phase to ensure the delivery of the highest quality data.

Now, the satellite has brilliantly passed this important stage and is starting to do the work it was created for – and its data is now open and accessible to everyone.

This photo was taken during the formal transfer from commissioning to scientific operations.

Klaus Schippel, ESA’s Biomass Mission Manager, said, “Reaching the end of commissioning reflects the collective effort of teams across ESA, industry and the science community. Months of hard work and close collaboration have ensured that Biomass is performing exactly as intended, and we are grateful for the dedication and professionalism of everyone involved.

“With the completion of commissioning and handing over for scientific operations, Biomass moves from promise to delivery.

“The mission has begun with a single tomographic global coverage phase that takes approximately 18 months to reveal forest structure. This will be followed by multiple nine-month interferometric global coverages for the remainder of the mission’s life to better understand how forests change over time.”

The Biomass Mission images, presented below, show a fraction of the estimated forest carbon content in tonnes per hectare, first in Gabon and the Republic of Congo, then extending into Cameroon and the Central African Republic. These estimates are later presented in graphical form.

Maciej Soja, a senior researcher at Wageningen Environmental Research in the Netherlands, who has been involved in the development of biomass missions for more than 15 years, commented, “Although the full potential of biomass has not yet been realized, initial results are highly encouraging, and upcoming tomographic and interferometric data modalities promise to provide even deeper insights.

“These products will help researchers better understand climate change processes and support more effective forest management and monitoring, particularly in the Global South.”

“We are also currently engaging with the scientific community at the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Polarimetric Interferometry and Biomass Science Workshop in Slovenia, where we are discussing advanced SAR methods for forest science and applications, and presenting and discussing the capabilities of the biomass mission,” said Dr. Skipel.

As part of post-launch activities, scientists from several institutions including the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the Gabonese Agency for Space Studies and Observations (AGEOS) and the Gabonese Air Force participated in an ambitious ESA airborne campaign to support the calibration of biomass.

The expedition included an aircraft equipped with a synthetic aperture radar system specifically designed for aerial operations, which obtained detailed images of the tropical forest below. Several flights were carefully timed to coincide closely with the biomass overpass and to collect radar observations almost simultaneously.

These airborne data are now being compared with satellite measurements to assess calibration accuracy and validate the overall performance of the biomass mission.

ESA campaign scientist Tania Cassel said, “This campaign is an important milestone for the Biomass mission. By combining coordinated aerial and satellite radar observations over Gabon’s exceptionally diverse forests, we are gaining important insights into the calibration and performance of the mission.

“The results will not only strengthen confidence in tomographic measurements of biomass, but also demonstrate how countries like Gabon, with a strong commitment to forest conservation, can benefit from frequent, high-quality observations.”

Simonetta Cheli, Director of ESA’s Earth Observation Programmes, said, “The transfer from commission to operations is a major milestone. I want to thank everyone involved in the mission’s journey, from the moment this remarkable Earth Explorer satellite was still on the drawing board to the day it was ready for duty in space.

“One of the major challenges facing scientists and policymakers is the lack of accurate, global data on how much carbon is stored in forests, and how these stocks are changing in response to rising temperatures, rising atmospheric carbon dioxide and human-driven land-use change.

“Data from the Biomass Mission are now poised to significantly reduce uncertainties in estimates of forest carbon stocks and fluxes, including those associated with forest loss and reforestation”