BioSAR 30

An airborne radar for the An airborne radar for the

mapping of forest biomass and embedded carbonmapping of forest biomass and embedded carbon

Presentation for theThird USDA Symposium

Greenhouse Gases & Carbon Sequestration inAgriculture and Forestry

March 23, 2005

Zimmerman Associates, Inc (ZAI)

BioSAR 30

BioSAR 30

Acknowledgements

• Dr. Marc Imhoff, NASA GSFC

• Dr. Roger Dahlman, DOE BER

• Mr. John Litynski, DOE FE

BioSAR 30

Overview

• Radar (RF) Remote Sensing of Biomass

• NASA Experiments

• DOE Refinements – BioSAR 30TM

• February 2005 Mission

• Features, Advantages, Benefits

• Spin-Off Company – Terresense

BioSAR 30

Radar Remote Sensing of Biomass

• Radar energy is reflected by leaves• Radar receivers are saturated by

these reflections• Beyond saturation, measurement not possible• Radar Biomass load limits at saturation

– X-Band (10 GHz – 1”) ~ 10 tons/ha– P-Band (500 MHz - 2’) ~ 100 tons/ha

BioSAR 30

Location of World Biomass

• 90 % of world biomass resides in stands of over 100 tons/ha

• For Radar remote sensing of 90% of world biomass need VHF frequency ~ 100 MHz, 10’

BioSAR 30

Basic BioSAR 30 Technology

• Airborne Small Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)• Operates at 80-120 MHz, ~ 10’• Low power < 1 watts• Data collected at 166 KHz• Data tagged with dGPS time and location• Radar footprint is a 600 mt circle (80 acres)• Processed cell size 30 x 300 meters (1 acre)

BioSAR 30

NASA C-130 In Flight

BioSAR 30TM antenna

BioSAR 30

Site # Latitude Longitude Biomass Biomass

(tons/ha)(tons/ha)

1 9.160127 79.859973 207.4207.42 8.987363 79.617125 212.2212.23 8.996870 79.642082 212.3212.34 9.121305 79.672340 218.8218.85 9.140858 79.692410 235.1235.16 9.152628 79.713770 235.9235.97 9.143868 79.857983 243.9243.98 9.157593 79.750405 252.2252.29 9.280008 79.974252 258.8258.810 9.322290 79.960888 259.3259.311 8.986632 79.637610 288.9288.9

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Test Sites Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Test Sites Biomass 200 to 300 tons/haBiomass 200 to 300 tons/ha (above-ground, dry, biomass)(above-ground, dry, biomass)..

BioSAR 30

BioSAR Estimated Biomass vs.Ground Truth

200 210 220 230 240 250 260 270 280 290180

200

220

240

260

280

300

320

Ground Truth Biomass, tons/hectare

Est

ima

ted

Bio

mas

s, to

ns/

he

cta

re±10% of

Total

(total above-ground dry biomass)

BioSAR 30

BioSAR-Generated Biomass Mapof the Panama Canal Zone, Panama

0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360 390 420

9.11° N Lat.

-80.00 ° E Long.

9.20° N Lat.

-79.60° E Long.

Canal

Above-ground dry biomass (Metric Tons/Hectare)

BioSAR 30

DOE Refinements - BioSAR 30TM

• DOE Grants– Improved processing algorithms– Improved data storage and archiving – Addition of Laser Radar– Addition of external calibration device

BioSAR 30

BioSAR 30TM Installed in Twin Otter Aircraft

BioSAR 30

BioSAR 30TM Operators Station

BioSAR 30

BioSAR 30TM Antenna

BioSAR 30

DOE Mission to North Carolina

• February 17,18 2005

• 30 Sites selected – Each Site ~ 100 acres– Collaboration with Weyerhaeuser Corp.– GPS waypoints for each site computed– North-South, East-West Leg for each site– All sites flown in one day, repeated next day

BioSAR 30

Aerial Photograph of Site 19

BioSAR 30

BioSAR 30TM Flight Lines - Site 19

BioSAR 30

Data Points and Biomass for Site 19

BioSAR 30

Video View of Site 19

BioSAR 30

Observations vs. Ground Truth

Feb 17 Feb 18

N-S E-W N-S E-W

2003 Ground Truth ~ 160 tons/ha

Site 19

BioSAR 30

30 Square Mile Survey - 1 Day

5.5 Miles

5.5

Mil

es

250 Meters – 36 transects

BioSAR 30

Features, Advantages, Benefits

Feature Advantage Benefit

1. Time Required

2. Coverage

3. Cost

4. Platform

5. Accuracy

Remote vs. manual

100% vs. 1% survey

~ $2 vs. $10 per acre

Aircraft vs. vehicle

Measurement vs. approximation

Hours vs. weeks

Reproducibility

Reduced costs

Accessibility

Better Results

BioSAR 30

• New Company – Spin-Off from ZAI – Offering commercial BioSAR 30 services

• $2.00/acre (Minimum $50K) + ferry charges• 30 sq. miles/day (~ 19K acres, 7.8K ha)

– Product will be GIS/GPS Overlays: Biomass/Carbon– Brochures and details available – Taking orders now

• www.terresense.com

BioSAR 30

Points of Contact

• ZAI: www.zai-inc.com– Patrick W. Johnson

• 301-371-3584• pjohnson@zai-inc.com

• Terresense: www.terresense.com– Marie Sparrow

• 703-883-0506• msparrow@terresense.com