BIOMASS: A P-band SAR earth explorer core mission candidate

The greatest uncertainties in the global carbon cycle involve estimating how carbon dioxide is taken up by land. The BIOMASS mission aims to improve the present assessment and future projection of the terrestrial carbon cycle by providing consistent global maps of forest biomass and forest area, forest disturbances and recovery with time, and the extent and evolution of the forest flooding. The BIOMASS primary objectives can be achieved through P-band (435 MHz) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) observations of global forest cover. Two parallel industrial studies at phase 0 level were awarded respectively to Astrium GmbH and Thales Alenia Space Italy. This paper presents the resulting system concepts as elaborated by the industrial teams. The result of the phase 0 was presented to the user community in January 2009 in Lisbon together with other Earth Explorer candidates for further down-selection. If successfully selected after phase 0 and phase A, BIOMASS will be launched during 2016.