science
/
indicators
/
Above Ground Carbon (Landscape Level)

Above Ground Carbon (Landscape Level)

Provides medium-resolution data on carbon stored in trees, crucial for verifying carbon credits and tracking the impacts of deforestation, afforestation and natural regeneration at a landscape level.

unit

historic data availability

2018 (biannual)

description

Measures the amount of carbon stored in live woody vegetation in large forest areas. This medium-resolution dataset is useful for cost-efficient monitoring of landscape-level forest carbon stocks. It offers a scalable solution to track carbon stocks over time without the need for extensive fieldwork.

methodology

Above-ground carbon stocks are quantified using a combination of multiple satellite radar technologies (Sentinel-1, Envisat ASAR, ALOS-1/2). The model is calibrated with spaceborne LiDAR data from GEDI and ICESat-2 missions. This produces annual, global maps of above-ground biomass at 100m spatial resolution under the European Space Agency's (ESA) Climate Change Initiative.