Supersites and Biomass Validation Workshop
Working Group on Calibration Validation – Land Product Validation
Host: CSIRO
Location: Canberra, Australia
Logistics [Updated 02 Mar 2020]
Draft Agenda [Updated 02 Mar 2020]
Context:
CEOS Agencies are operating and planning a number of missions (radar and lidar) that aim to provide measurements of above-ground biomass. A multi-mission group has been formed and has regular calls to coordinate various aspects related to these missions including validation of the biomass products. Specifically, on the biomass validation aspect, a specialist team within the CEOS Working Group on Calibration and Validation (WGCV) Land Product Validation (LPV) subgroup has developed the CEOS WGCV LPV Biomass Protocol promoting good practices for validation of the mission products, with a focus on the lidar missions. Recognizing the importance of in-situ validation data, complementary to the biomass validation protocol, the CEOS WGCV LPV subgroup also undertook an effort to define and evaluate international land-based sites, which systematically collect multiple biophysical measurements important for validation of Earth observation derived products, on a long-term basis. The result of this work is a collection of LPV supersites drawn from well-known and established networks around the globe (https://lpvs.gsfc.nasa.gov/LPV_Supersites/LPVsites.html).
The Australian CEOS SIT Chair team has nominated ‘carbon and biomass’ as one of the thematic priorities for its 2020-21 term and proposed ‘accelerating the policy relevance of the new above-ground biomass (AGB) measurement missions’ as a stated objective. Part of the approach will be to ensure awareness and support for the anticipated CEOS WGCV LPV Biomass Protocol to ensure appropriate application and interpretation of the new AGB datasets.
Workshop Objectives
- To bring together the ground in-situ measurement networks such as GBOV, TERN, NEON, Enviro-Net, etc. and biomass teams to explore and build on synergies between the CEOS WGCV LPV supersites initiative and biomass protocol work, extending the extensive work being conducted by the CEOS WGCV on LPV supersites and the development of a biomass protocol. Topics include:
- explore synergies between CEOS WGCV LPV supersites and other networks, evaluate and update the status of CEOS WGCV LPV supersites, and evaluate the potential extended use of these sites for biomass validation;
- explore synergies between biomass and other biophysical measurements currently captured by supersites;
- define site characteristics and instrumentation requirements for biomass and other biophysical product validation;
- evaluate interoperability and harmonization of data between sites in order to allow data exchange, use, integration with spatial and other datasets (linked to FDA, Open Datac Cube initiatives);
- define needs for more coordinated field and airborne data collection;
- consider synergies and support of the WGCV Biomass Inter-comparison Exercise-2 (BRIX-2) activity and actions for individual CEOS Agencies to support.
- Working with the CEOS WGCV LPV Biomass protocol team to generate a ‘pitch’ to CEOS Principals at the CEOS SIT-35 meeting in Tasmania in late March to request for the resources that are needed to make a success of the newly-published protocol and to ensure its potential is fully realized.
- Addressing outreach to relevant policy implementation or inventory agencies such as UNFCCC and take the opportunity to explore potential links from CEOS Agency biomass measurement coordination to the CEOS GHG Roadmap and their plan to contribute a prototype product to the 1st Global Stocktake in 2023 – understanding the production schedules from the relevant CEOS mission programs and what might be practical.
Just as the greenhouse gas experts within CEOS have mobilized to develop a coordination roadmap under the umbrella of a CEOS carbon strategy, so too could the biomass experts across CEOS Agencies identify possible measures to progress the necessary coordination in a framework that will attract attention and support from CEOS Principals. The workshop could address this possibility and consider how to mobilize resources to address the needs.