Latest news with #Biomass
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists send enormous satellite into space to scan over a trillion organisms around the globe: 'We can actually look inside'
Scientists send enormous satellite into space to scan over a trillion organisms around the globe: 'We can actually look inside' The European Space Agency has deployed a one-of-a-kind satellite with the ability to scan more than a trillion complex organisms in the world's rainforests. The successful April launch was spotlighted in June in the Environmental Defense Fund's Vital Signs newsletter, a trusted source for inspiring climate news stories, solutions, and ways you can take action. The Biomass satellite, nicknamed Space Brolly because of its massive 12-meter diameter antenna, sparked optimism because scientists believe it will help them accurately measure how much carbon more than 1.5 trillion trees in rainforests are storing, per the BBC. One 2021 study detailed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration suggests the Amazon rainforest (the largest rainforest in the world) contains around 123 billion tons of carbon above and below ground. Yet deforestation is threatening the Amazon and other crucial rainforests that help regulate the climate and keep temperatures in check. The 1.3-ton satellite works similar to a CT scan, able to provide scientists with deeper insight into the health of rainforests. This could help them develop solutions to more effectively mitigate the life-threatening effects of the warming climate, including food insecurity and more intense extreme weather. "We really want to interrogate these forests. We can actually look inside," professor John Remedios, director of the National Centre for Earth Observation, told the BBC after the satellite's launch from Kourou, French Guiana, on April 29. This project is just one of the initiatives spotlighted by Vital Signs that underscores how environmentally focused technologies can be lucrative long-term investments, as governments, companies, and individuals come together to work toward a brighter future. Ralph Cordey, head of geosciences at Airbus, told the BBC that the satellite was 20 years in the making, with its ability to penetrate clouds to gather data potentially revolutionizing how we protect rainforests and the biodiverse creatures that call them home. "It's exciting, because it's going to tell us about how something that we perhaps take for granted," he said. "Our forests, our trees, how they are contributing to the processes which govern our planet, and in particular, the processes behind climate change which are so important to us today and for the future." Do you think we should be trying to pull pollution out of the atmosphere? Absolutely I need to know more In some situations No way Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
See Earth's Forests as Never Before in Biomass Satellite's First Images
Just two months after its launch, the European Space Agency (ESA) Biomass satellite is already showing us Earth in a whole new light. On June 23 the ESA released the mission's first images, which showcase its unique capability to peer through dense vegetation to study our planet's forests and other ecosystems as never before. Using cutting-edge radar technologies, the satellite is on a five-year mission to survey forests across sprawling swaths of the globe, looking beneath their canopies to accurately assess their total woody biomass—trunks, limbs, stems, and so on. By measuring all that material and how it's changing over time, scientists can better monitor deforestation trends and track the flow of carbon through ecosystems to enhance our understanding of Earth's rapidly changing climate. The satellite is still in its six-month-long commissioning phase, but now we have a taste of what is to come. The image shown above displays a section of the Amazon rainforest in Bolivia with the Beni River meandering through. Each color represents a different ecosystem feature: black for rivers and lakes, pink for wetlands and floodplains, green for rainforests, and purple for grasslands. The World Resources Institute's Global Forest Review ranks Bolivia among the top 10 countries with the most tree cover loss between 2001 and 2024. During this time, Bolivia lost the equivalent of 15 percent of the total forest cover it had in 2000, in large part to encroaching agricultural plots and cattle ranches. These images and their associated data can help researchers keep careful tabs on deforestation and its impacts on local and global ecosystems. [Sign up for Today in Science, a free daily newsletter] The image below highlights the satellite's power by comparing its observations with those gathered by a Biomass predecessor, ESA's Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission, in the same location. The new pictures represent a significant increase in detail that is primarily owed to Biomass's main instrument: the P-band synthetic aperture radar. P-band radio waves are longer than others more typically used in such radar systems, allowing them to pass through layers of foliage, soil and other materials to create accurate three-dimensional maps of otherwise hidden landscape features. Because of engineering challenges as well as diplomatic ones, this is the first time P-band radar has been used in orbital Earth observations—the P-band radio frequency is typically reserved for American and European missile-detection systems. (In order to ensure it will not interfere with the U.S. Department of Defense's space-object-tracking radar systems, Biomass will not observe North and Central America, Europe, and some Arctic regions.) The next three images below demonstrate just how deep the P-band radar can go. They display topographic features of rainforests in Indonesia, the Sahara Desert in Chad and the Transantarctic Mountains adjacent to the Nimrod Glacier in Antarctica, respectively. Pictured above is Indonesia's mountainous Halmahera rainforest, featuring rugged topography shaped by outpourings from the numerous volcanoes that pockmark the region. One of them, the active volcano Mount Gamalama, can be seen off the coast on the far left. Though the main goal of the Biomass satellite is to catalog forests, it will also study other environments. Above is a portion of the Tibesti Mountains situated in the central Sahara Desert in northern Chad. Able to map features as far as five meters beneath dry sand, the satellite can reveal ancient geologic details, such as dried-up riverbeds and lakes, now buried below the Sahara's ever-shifting dunes. These data can help researchers understand past ecological changes in such regions—and could even help unearth hidden pockets of precious groundwater in arid, remote deserts. Biomass can also penetrate into ice, pictured below, and collect information about ice-sheet structure and movement that could be used to better understand what controls the slide of glaciers into the sea. Below, another image features jungle-covered terrain in Gabon and prominently displays the Ivindo River, which nurtures the surrounding rainforest. The predominantly green color of the image indicates dense vegetal growth—a sign of a healthy rainforest. The final image shown here, below, is the very first one the satellite produced. It displays a portion of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, highlighting the topography of the region alongside features such as rivers, wetlands and grasslands. Only a small portion of the vast Amazon has been studied in-depth and on the ground. This is largely because of its scale and the associated difficulty of reaching some of its most remote regions. Innovative satellites like Biomass could greatly increase our knowledge of these overlooked places and similar ones around the world, helping researchers better understand—and protect—our changing planet and its myriad beautiful ecosystems.
Scientific American
01-07-2025
- Science
- Scientific American
See Earth's Forests as Never Before in Biomass Satellite's First Images
Just two months after its launch, the European Space Agency (ESA) Biomass satellite is already showing us Earth in a whole new light. On June 23 the ESA released the mission's first images, which showcase its unique capability to peer through dense vegetation to study our planet's forests and other ecosystems as never before. Using cutting-edge radar technologies, the satellite is on a five-year mission to survey forests across sprawling swaths of the globe, looking beneath their canopies to accurately assess their total woody biomass—trunks, limbs, stems, and so on. By measuring all that material and how it's changing over time, scientists can better monitor deforestation trends and track the flow of carbon through ecosystems to enhance our understanding of Earth's rapidly changing climate. The satellite is still in its six-month-long commissioning phase, but now we have a taste of what is to come. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. The image shown above displays a section of the Amazon rainforest in Bolivia with the Beni River meandering through. Each color represents a different ecosystem feature: black for rivers and lakes, pink for wetlands and floodplains, green for rainforests, and purple for grasslands. The World Resources Institute's Global Forest Review ranks Bolivia among the top 10 countries with the most tree cover loss between 2001 and 2024. During this time, Bolivia lost the equivalent of 15 percent of the total forest cover it had in 2000, in large part to encroaching agricultural plots and cattle ranches. These images and their associated data can help researchers keep careful tabs on deforestation and its impacts on local and global ecosystems. The image below highlights the satellite's power by comparing its observations with those gathered by a Biomass predecessor, ESA's Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission, in the same location. The new pictures represent a significant increase in detail that is primarily owed to Biomass's main instrument: the P-band synthetic aperture radar. P-band radio waves are longer than others more typically used in such radar systems, allowing them to pass through layers of foliage, soil and other materials to create accurate three-dimensional maps of otherwise hidden landscape features. Because of engineering challenges as well as diplomatic ones, this is the first time P-band radar has been used in orbital Earth observations—the P-band radio frequency is typically reserved for American and European missile-detection systems. (In order to ensure it will not interfere with the U.S. Department of Defense's space-object-tracking radar systems, Biomass will not observe North and Central America, Europe, and some Arctic regions.) The next three images below demonstrate just how deep the P-band radar can go. They display topographic features of rainforests in Indonesia, the Sahara Desert in Chad and the Transantarctic Mountains adjacent to the Nimrod Glacier in Antarctica, respectively. Pictured above is Indonesia's mountainous Halmahera rainforest, featuring rugged topography shaped by outpourings from the numerous volcanoes that pockmark the region. One of them, the active volcano Mount Gamalama, can be seen off the coast on the far left. Though the main goal of the Biomass satellite is to catalog forests, it will also study other environments. Above is a portion of the Tibesti Mountains situated in the central Sahara Desert in northern Chad. Able to map features as far as five meters beneath dry sand, the satellite can reveal ancient geologic details, such as dried-up riverbeds and lakes, now buried below the Sahara's ever-shifting dunes. These data can help researchers understand past ecological changes in such regions—and could even help unearth hidden pockets of precious groundwater in arid, remote deserts. Biomass can also penetrate into ice, pictured below, and collect information about ice-sheet structure and movement that could be used to better understand what controls the slide of glaciers into the sea. Below, another image features jungle-covered terrain in Gabon and prominently displays the Ivindo River, which nurtures the surrounding rainforest. The predominantly green color of the image indicates dense vegetal growth—a sign of a healthy rainforest. The final image shown here, below, is the very first one the satellite produced. It displays a portion of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, highlighting the topography of the region alongside features such as rivers, wetlands and grasslands. Only a small portion of the vast Amazon has been studied in-depth and on the ground. This is largely because of its scale and the associated difficulty of reaching some of its most remote regions. Innovative satellites like Biomass could greatly increase our knowledge of these overlooked places and similar ones around the world, helping researchers better understand—and protect—our changing planet and its myriad beautiful ecosystems.
Times of Oman
28-06-2025
- Business
- Times of Oman
Govt revises biomass guidelines to boost bio energy and ease of doing business
New Delhi: The Centre has revised guidelines for the Biomass Programme under Phase-I of the National Bioenergy Programme to promote cleaner energy solutions, ease of doing business, and accelerate the adoption of biomass technologies across the country, according to a statement. "The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has issued revised guidelines for the Biomass Programme under Phase-I of the National Bioenergy Programme, applicable for the period FY 2021-22 to 2025-26. These amendments aim to promote cleaner energy solutions, ease of doing business, and accelerate the adoption of biomass technologies across India," the statement said. Under the new framework, Ministry has simplified several processes, such as cutting down on paperwork and easing approval requirements, which will enable the industry especially MSMEs to enhance their production. These changes align well with improvement of stubble management and India's broader goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2070, the statement added. One of the major highlights of the revision is technological integration by enabling the use of IoT-based monitoring solutions or quarterly data submissions instead of expensive and high-tech systems like SCADA. This cost-effective step promotes digital monitoring and accountability, especially for smaller business operators. The guidelines also encourage significant simplification of documentation requirements. Developers of briquette and pellet manufacturing plants will no longer be required to submit a number of documents related to clearance matters. This change will save time, and promote ease of doing business. In a move to enhance operational flexibility, the earlier requirement for a two-year briquette or pellet sale contract has been replaced with a general sale agreement. This change will allow project developers to respond more dynamically to market conditions without being constrained by long-term contracts, as per the Ministry's statement. The amended guidelines allow flexible selling of biomass products, meaning businesses no longer need long-term contracts to get started. Furthermore, the subsidy disbursement mechanism under the Central Financial Assistance (CFA) component has been made performance-based and transparent. Projects that run efficiently, above 80%, will receive full financial assistance, while below 80 percent will receive on pro-rata basis. The performance inspection period has been simplified. Earlier, it has to be done within a period of 18 months from the date of commissioning, but now, it can be carried out within 18 months period either from the commissioning date or from the date of In-principle approval, whichever is later. Additionally, to cater on-ground operational challenges of developers, Secretary, MNRE may extend the time period, the Ministry added. During inspection, a performance report was made on the basis of Operation Plant at an average of 80 per cent of rated capacity measured over a period of three consecutive days, taking average 16 Hrs per day. However, now it has been reduced to just 10 hours as the inspection process primarily aims to verify the claimed and operational capacities and inspection for 10 hours of continuous operation would suffice for this purpose. Recognising the urgent need to address air pollution, especially from stubble burning in northern India, the new guidelines include a provision allowing biomass pellet producers in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, and NCR districts of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh to choose the most beneficial support scheme, either from MNRE or CPCB. These revisions will not only support the smooth implementation of the biomass programme and timely delivery of approved financial support to commissioned plants, but also encourage the sector to establish more biomass-based plants. This would ultimately help in addressing the menace of crop residue burning and ensure sustainable management of agricultural waste. Overall, the updated guidelines will make it easier for businesses to adopt biomass technologies, provide financial incentives for efficient operations, and support India's clean energy efforts, all while promoting practical, business-friendly solutions to waste management and pollution reduction.
BBC News
25-06-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Biomass: ESA first images from forest spotting satellite revealed
The European Space Agency has revealed the first pictures taken by its new space satellite, images show in great detail a variety of landscapes from continents across the world including South America, Africa and Asia. Biomass' five-year mission will provide detailed three dimensional maps of the world's most dense and remote tropical instruments on board, it can measure woody trunks, branches and stems of trees. Biomass satellite: What has it captured? The Biomass mission was launched two months ago, on 29 April, from Europe's Spaceport in French to the ESA, these first images released mark a huge step towards understanding how Earth's forests are changing and exactly how they contribute to the global carbon cycle is the process in which carbon continuously circulates between the atmosphere, the earth, and living things like plants and vibrant colours in each picture were created using instruments on board Biomass, with each colour revealing different types of landscape. For example, green hues mainly represent rainforests, red areas are forested floodplains and wetlands, grasslands are pictured in bluey–purple, while black areas are rivers and lakes. The team say that, as the mission is in its early days, they are fine-tuning the satellite to make sure it delivers the highest quality data for scientists to accurately determine how much carbon is stored in the world's Biomass Project Manager, Michael Fehringer, explained: "Biomass is equipped with novel space technology, so we've been closely monitoring its performance in orbit, and we're very pleased to report that everything is functioning also expressed how happy scientists were with the pictures."Its first images are nothing short of spectacular - and they're only a mere glimpse of what is still to come," Fehringer added. What is ESA's Biomass satellite? Biomass is the first space satellite to carry a long wavelength radar, called special radar means that it can scan deep through the forest canopy and collect information on different parts of the forest, such as tree trunks, branches and stems - where trees store most of their will allow the satellite to provide experts on the ground with new information on forest height and above-ground forest biomass from will then be able to find out more about the state of our forests and how they are changing, and further our knowledge about the role that forests play in the carbon ESA mission will be divided into two phases:The first will provide detailed 3D maps of forests on Earth. This is important as it's not possible to find out the global mass of trees from the second phase will produce five global maps which will enable forest height and above-ground biomass to be hope is that this data will help experts better understand the state of our forests and how they are changing. Why is the Biomass mission important? Forests are full of trees and other plants, which absorb carbon dioxide and release animals, including humans, breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. This means trees help to provide us with the oxygen we need to referred to as "Earth's green lungs," forests absorb around eight billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each say that by absorbing carbon dioxide, trees prevent pollution, improve air quality and slow down the effects of climate able to calculate the global carbon cycle is essential to understanding how the world's forests are changing and the future effects this might have for our new Biomass mission has been designed to help scientists do just that.
