The BIOMASS mission represents a significant technological and scientific breakthrough.
Carrying a novel P-band synthetic aperture radar, the Biomass mission is designed to deliver crucial information about the state of our forests and how they are changing, and to further our knowledge of the role forests play in the carbon cycle. In addition, as a first P-band fully polarimetric SAR in space it is expected that its value will expand across a wide set of other scientific applications and foster advances in polarimetric methods and promote scientific understanding well beyond its primary objectives.
This Call for Proposals represents an invitation to the scientific community in ESA Member States to carry out highly innovative studies aimed at exploiting the novel nature of BIOMASS data, also in combination with additional datasets (e.g., NISAR) and models, addressing key science challenges, observational gaps and novel techniques and methods where BIOMASS may provide a unique contribution. With this call ESA aims to unlock the huge potential offered by BIOMASS satellite mission across all domains of science and applications and advance SAR techniques and retrieval methods beyond the state of the art with special focus on BIOMASS novel features.
BIOMASS+ is intended to address novel SAR synergy aspects (multi-mission, multi-frequency, multi-polarisation) exploiting additional European and non-European mission in the SAR, passive microwave and optical domains that may open the door for novel and unprecedented scientific opportunities.
In particular, the objectives of the BIOMASS+ Innovation activity include:
- To develop a solid scientific understanding regarding the contribution of BIOMASS data in the context of different scientific domains also beyond the BIOMASS primary mission objectives.
- To develop and validate novel techniques, new retrieval methods and innovative algorithms that fully capitalise on the novel features of BIOMASS to advance the state of the art in SAR processing capabilities including, polarimetry, tomography and advanced bio-geophysical parameter retrieval.
- To develop and validate innovative prototype products beyond the mission primary objectives, that may enlarge the BIOMASS product portfolio in the future.
- Ensuring BIOMASS delivers breakthroughs in Earth system and climate science, by addressing key science questions and advancing process understanding well beyond the state of the art, specially contributing to address the new science questions in the ESA Science Strategy.
- Contribute to develop a scientific roadmap and formulate a scientific plan for a potential full development of proposed novel scientific areas, applications or products.
Learn more about this Invitation To Tender on the esa-star Publication page.
Featured image : Seeing the wood through the trees with Biomass. Image credit: ESA/ATG medialab