Determined to measure how much carbon Earth's forests capture, the European Space Agency and Airbus have developed the Biomass satellite.
Launched on April 29, Biomass uses the P-band of the radio spectrum — usually banned for satellites — to gather its info, ABC News reported.
Biomass is the first satellite of its kind and will be in orbit for about five years. Before its development, scientists had no direct way to measure how much carbon forests absorb.
"To measure biomass, you need to cut the tree down and weigh it, which is why we use indirect measuring systems," mission manager Klaus Scipal told MIT Technology Review.
So, why use P-band to make more direct measurements? According to MIT Technology Review, its large wavelengths are best for measuring trunks and large branches, where trees store most of their carbon.
However, this came at a cost. Large P-band satellites tend to interfere with reconnaissance satellites. Because of this, manufacturers have to turn off Biomass' radar when it flies over North America and Europe.
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"This was a pity," Scipal told MIT Technology Review. "It's a European mission, so we wanted to do observations in Europe."
Still, this isn't the worst setback. One of the main goals is to measure forests that scientists have little information on, including the Amazon rainforest in South America. The info provided by Biomass will be a critical step forward. If scientists know exactly how trees' carbon storage is affected by humans, then policymakers can take the steps necessary to adjust.
This is part of the larger fight to slow the planet's rapid warming, which is mostly caused by unprecedented amounts of carbon in the atmosphere. According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, "the annual rate of increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past 60 years is about 100 times faster than previous natural increases."
That's because humans put more carbon into the atmosphere than Earth's forests or oceans can store. This leads to a domino effect, causing more extreme weather that destroys people's homes and hikes insurance rates, for example.
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The ESA isn't the only organization looking for hard data on planetary warming. The Forest Stewardship Council makes sure companies using wood products sustainably manage their trees without deforesting or destroying ecosystems.
The data the Biomass satellite provides will be nothing short of a game-changer. "This new mission will advance our ability to quantify forest carbon stocks and fluxes, which is key to understanding and assessing the impacts of climate change," project manager Michael Fehringer stated.
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