Last week, the European Space Agency (ESA) launched a satellite that will be able to do what no other has done before. Current space-based radars are unable to penetrate the canopy of rainforests to take detailed measurements of the trees. But the ESA’s new satellite is equipped with a special new radar system that can look beyond the tops of the trees.
Its antenna has a 12m diameter and uses P-band radar, which has a very long wavelength that makes it possible to penetrate a rainforest’s canopy. This allows the satellite to essentially take a CT scan of the trees through repeat passes over an area. The team on the ground can use this data to determine how much carbon dioxide is stored in the trees.
“Essentially, what we’re talking about is trying to weigh the amount of carbon that’s stored in one and a half trillion trees across the tropics,” said Mat Disney, professor of remote sensing at University College London. This data will be a huge asset in studying the effects of rainforests on climate change and global warming, as well as the impacts of deforestation.
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