Blast-off for mission to map forests from space

The project, the brainchild of Sheffield University professor Shaun Quegan, is expected to cost around 400 million Euros and could run for up to five years.

Groundbreaking maps of forest biomass will be produced which will help scientists address questions about changes in forest structure, especially in tropical regions where ground data is scant.

These maps will also help to put a figure on the carbon emissions resulting from deforestation.

Professor Quegan said: “As trees grow, they take in carbon and store it. But during deforestation this carbon is released into the atmosphere.

“This is just one way carbon cycles between different storage sites and, as this global carbon cycle becomes unbalanced, more carbon is being released from storage into the atmosphere.

“Understanding how the amount of living material in our global forests changes over time is necessary for improving assessments of the global carbon cycle, and therefore our climate.”