Recent research based on data from the European Space Agency’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite mission has shed light on the role of forests in carbon capture, with surprising findings.
The study, conducted by ESA-funded scientists and published in Nature Geosciences, offers crucial insights into terrestrial carbon stocks and their changes at regional and global scales. These findings have significant implications for climate change mitigation efforts and the monitoring of progress toward net-zero goals outlined in the Paris Agreement.
The research, led by scientists at the French Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement (LSCE), reveals that land-based carbon stocks increased by an average of 510 million tonnes of carbon annually between 2010 and 2019. Notably, boreal and temperate forests played a substantial role in accumulating carbon-rich biomass, while tropical forests contributed only small increases due to deforestation and agricultural disturbances.
Unexpectedly, the study found that young and middle-aged forests, aged between 50 and 140 years, were the most effective at absorbing atmospheric carbon and accumulating biomass. Forests older than 140 years were approximately carbon neutral, contradicting previous vegetation model predictions.
Hui Yang from LSCE emphasized the importance of forest age in predicting carbon dynamics, suggesting that delaying and reducing timber harvesting in young forests could be a climate-friendly forest management strategy.
The research relies on the SMOS satellite’s capability to provide robust measurements of L-band microwave vegetation optical depth (L-VOD), allowing for the assessment of live woody vegetative biomass and monitoring changes in terrestrial carbon stocks. This information is essential for accurate global carbon balance estimation and tracking progress toward the Paris Agreement’s objectives.
The upcoming ESA Earth Explorer mission called Biomass, set to launch next year, will further enhance our understanding of forest carbon. Equipped with a P-band synthetic aperture radar, Biomass will provide critical data on forest status and change, advancing our knowledge of forests’ role in the carbon cycle. This mission is part of international efforts to reduce carbon emissions resulting from deforestation and land degradation.
Overall, the use of the SMOS satellite to study forest carbon capture represents a significant step in our understanding of climate change dynamics and emphasizes the importance of preserving forests as essential tools in mitigating climate change.