Table 1.
The expected upcoming biomass-relevant missions. Note that only NISAR, GEDI and BIOMASS are approved missions with a formal requirement for biomass mapping accuracy. Missions with no official biomass product are marked Not Applicable (NA), and missions that have yet to publish these requirements are listed at To Be Determined (TBD)
| Mission | Funding agency | Launch Date (Expected or past) | Data type | Biomass product resolution | Geographic domain | Accuracy requirement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NISAR | NASA/ISRO | 2021 | L-band SAR | 1 ha (< 100 Mg/ha) | Global | < 20% RMSE for < 100 Mg/ha |
| GEDI | NASA | December 5, 2018 | 1064 nm waveform lidar | 1 km | ISS (± ~ 51.6°) | < 20% standard error for 80% of forested 1 km cells |
| BIOMASS | ESA | 2022 | P-band SAR | 4 ha | Global except western Europe and North America |
< 20% RMSE for AGB > 50 Mg/ha; 10 Mg/ha for AGB ≤ 50 Mg/ha |
| MOLI | JAXA | ~ 2022 | 1064 nm waveform lidar | 500 m | ISS (± ~ 51.6°) | TBD |
| SAOCOM1A | CONAE | October, 2018 | L-band SAR | TBD | Global | TBD |
| ICESat-2 | NASA | September 15, 2018 | 532 nm photon counting lidar | NA | Global | NA |
| ALOS-4 | JAXA | 2021 | L-band SAR | TBD | Global | TBD |
| TanDEM-L | DLR | Planned ~ 2023 | L-band SAR | 1 ha | Global | 20% accuracy or 20 Mg/ha |