The importance of consistent global forest aboveground biomass product validation

Several upcoming satellite missions have core science requirements to produce data for accurate forest aboveground biomass mapping. Largely because of these mission datasets, the number of available biomass products is expected to greatly increase over the coming decade. Despite the recognized importance of biomass mapping for a wide range of science, policy and management applications, there remains no community accepted standard for satellite-based biomass map validation. The Committee of Earth Observing Satellites (CEOS) is developing a protocol to fill this need in advance of the next generation of biomass relevant satellites, and this paper presents a review of biomass validation practices from a CEOS perspective. We outline the wide range of anticipated user requirements for product accuracy assessment, and provide recommendations for the validation of biomass products. These recommendations include the collection of new, high quality in situ data, and the use of airborne lidar biomass maps as tools toward transparent multi-resolution validation. Adoption of community-vetted validation standards and practices will facilitate the uptake of the next generation of biomass products.

DUNCANSON Laura;  ARMSTON John;  DISNEY Mathias;  AVITABILE Valerio;  BARBIER Nicolas;  CALDERS Kim;  CARTER Sarah;  CHAVE Jerome;  HEROLD Martin;  CROWTHER Thomas;  FALKOWSKI Michael;  KELLNER James;  LABRIERE Nicolas;  LUCAS Richard;  MACBEAN Natasha;  MCROBERTS Ronald;  MEYER Victoria;  NAESSET Erik;  NICKESON Jaime;  PAUL Kerin;  PHILLIPS Oliver L.;  REJOU-MECHAIN Maxime;  ROMAN Miguel O.;  ROXBURGH Stephen;  SAATCHI Sassan;  SCHEPASCHENKO Dmitry;  SCIPAL K.;  SIQUEIRA Paul;  WHITEHURST Amanda;  WILLIAMS Matthew; 

2019-07-25

SPRINGER

JRC115869

0169-3298 (online),   

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10712-019-09538-8,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC115869,   

10.1007/s10712-019-09538-8 (online),