GEDI launches a new era of biomass inference from space. (1st September 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dubayah, Ralph; Armston, John; Healey, Sean P; Bruening, Jamis M; Patterson, Paul L; Kellner, James R; Duncanson, Laura; Saarela, Svetlana; Ståhl, Göran; Yang, Zhiqiang; Tang, Hao; Blair, J Bryan; Fatoyinbo, Lola; Goetz, Scott; Hancock, Steven; Hansen, Matthew; Hofton, Michelle; Hurtt, George; Luthcke, Scott
• Is Part Of: Environmental research letters. Volume 17:Number 9(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-09-01
• Subjects: GEDI -- lidar -- biomass -- carbon -- forest structure -- hybrid inference; Environmental sciences -- Periodicals; Human ecology -- Research -- Periodicals; Environmental health -- Periodicals; 333.7
• DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ac8694
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1748-9326

Abstract

Abstract: Accurate estimation of aboveground forest biomass stocks is required to assess the impacts of land use changes such as deforestation and subsequent regrowth on concentrations of atmospheric CO2 . The Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) is a lidar mission launched by NASA to the International Space Station in 2018. GEDI was specifically designed to retrieve vegetation structure within a novel, theoretical sampling design that explicitly quantifies biomass and its uncertainty across a variety of spatial scales. In this paper we provide the estimates of pan-tropical and temperate biomass derived from two years of GEDI observations. We present estimates of mean biomass densities at 1 km resolution, as well as estimates aggregated to the national level for every country GEDI observes, and at the sub-national level for the United States. For all estimates we provide the standard error of the mean biomass. These data serve as a baseline for current biomass stocks and their future changes, and the mission's integrated use of formal statistical inference points the way towards the possibility of a new generation of powerful monitoring tools from space.