The authors further note that old growth northern forests, in particular, are vital carbon sinks that maintain billions if not many more tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) in their soils.īut, as ESA notes, forest degradation and deforestation, particularly in tropical regions, are causing much of this otherwise stored carbon to be released back into the atmosphere which only exacerbates climate change. In fact, according to a 2022 paper appearing in the journal, Environmental Chemistry Letters, trees can even create the right conditions for the surrounding soil to also become an important carbon trap. (Photo by: Eric Zamora/VW PICS/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) Universal Images Group via Getty Images Old growth forest in the Big Beaver Creek valley of North Cascades National Park, Washington. Planet-wide, forests also remove the lion’s share of atmospheric carbon emitted by human consumption of burning fossil fuels, the authors note.
Recent research in the tropics shows that natural forests hold 40 times more carbon than forests that are the result of tree farming, the authors of a 2019 paper appearing in the journal Frontiers in Forests and Global Change write. “For instance, the Amazon basin is over six million square kilometers.”īut a comprehensive census of the world’s natural forests is crucial. “The world’s forests are vast and difficult to access providing a very limited coverage for ground measurements,” ESA’s Biomass Mission Scientist, Bjorn Rommen, said in a statement. They are complex structures – and different tree species and dense canopies make them difficult to measure, notes the space agency. Mapping forest biomass from space is a huge technical challenge, says ESA. The antenna then receives the backscattered signal, which carries information about the forest structure and can be used to infer parameters such as forest biomass and forest height, the space agency notes. The big umbrella-like part of the satellite reflects the satellite’s P-band radar signal, which passes through the forest, says ESA.
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