BIOMASS LEVEL-2 IMPLEMENTATION STUDY
29, July 2016

ESA Open Invitation To Tender AO8713
Open Date: 29/07/2016
Closing Date: 30/09/2016 13:00:00

Status: ISSUED
Reference Nr.: 16.156.03
Prog. Ref.: EOEP4 L2 Product S EE
Budget Ref.: E/0024-E4 – EOEP4 L2 Product S EE
Special Prov.: AT+BE+CH+CZ+DE+DK+ES+FI+FR+GB+IE+IT+LU+NL+NO+PL+PT+RO+SE+CA
Tender Type: C
Price Range: > 500 KEURO
Technology Domains: Mission Operation and Ground Data Systems / Ground Data Systems / Preparation and Procedure Tools
Establishment: ESTEC
Directorate: Directorate of EO Programmes
Department: Earth Observation Projects Department
Division: Earth Explorer Missions Programme
Contract Officer: Tchoualack, Cendrine
Industrial Policy Measure: N/A – Not apply
Last Update Date: 29/07/2016
Update Reason: Tender issue

The Biomass Level-2 Implementation study shall define all algorithms required to produce the Biomass Level-2 products. This first phase of the Level-2 implementation will focus on the scientific development, design and prototyping of the algorithms. Biomass has been approved as the 7th Earth Explorer Mission by the Earth Observation Programme Board (PB-EO) at their 152th meeting on 6-8 May 2013. Biomass will be implemented as a Core Earth Explorer Mission within the frame of the Earth Observation Programme (EOEP). The primary objectives of the Biomass mission are to determine the distribution of aboveground biomass in the world forests and to measure annual changes in this stock over the period of the mission to enhance our understanding of the land carbon cycle. To this end the mission will produce three main Level-2 products in form of global maps produced every 6 month: 1.Biomass at 200 meter resolution in Mg C/ha.2.Top Canopy forest height at 200 meter resolution in meters. 3.Forest disturbance at 50 meter resolution in form of a binary map of forest/non-forest (where disturbance is defined as a high intensity biomass loss). To achieve these objectives, the Biomass sensor will consist of a fully polarimetric P-band Synthetic Aperture Radar that flies in an interferometric repeat pass. During the first year of the mission the satellite will be operated in an experimental tomographic mode. These data streams, PolSAR, PolInSAR and TomoSAR shall be used in synergy to produce Level-2 products. The aim of this study is to carry out all the necessary research to develop the algorithms and to implement a prototype of the Level-2 algorithms that will later be implemented in the Biomass ground segment. To this end the study shall produce an Algorithm Theoretical Baseline Document (ATBD) and a prototype of the Level-2 algorithms together with a thorough performance evaluation. In addition to Level-2 algorithms this study shall also develop the algorithms required for the tomographic processing of Level-1, and the retrieval of Level-2 biomass and forest height products from these data.

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