Southwestern U.S. Forest Biomass Estimates from MISR Satellite Data

250-meter resolution estimates of forest aboveground biomass (AGB) for the southwestern United States from 2000 to 2021. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory derived these estimates using a multi-angle approach with MISR satellite data, calibrated against the 2000 National Biomass and Carbon Dataset. This dataset represents the first application of a multi-angle index for forest AGB estimation using MISR.

Use Cases

• Modeling regional carbon sequestration and storage using the 22-year time series of AGB estimates.
• Validating other biomass or land cover models with the provided quality assurance (QA) files and BRDF model-fitting RMSE criteria.
• Analyzing forest change and biomass trends across the southwestern U.S. at a 250-meter spatial scale.
• Studying the relationship between multi-angle satellite reflectance (MISR red band BRFs) and forest structure.

Strengths

• Provides a 22-year continuous time series (2000-2021) for tracking biomass change.
• Includes quality assurance files allowing users to filter data based on criteria like BRDF model-fitting RMSE.
• Uses a novel, peer-reviewed methodology, being the first forest AGB estimation based on a multi-angle index from MISR data.

Limitations

• Spatial coverage is limited to the southwestern United States, not a global or national product.
• Specific technical details on row count, file size, and exact column structure are not provided across the listed platforms.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Collection Method

Derived from MISR Level 1B2 Terrain radiance data using a multi-angle model calibrated with the NBCD 2000 dataset.

Time Range

2000-2021

Freshness

2026-03-13 02:39:08.463841

Geography

Southwestern United States