Overview#
Objective#
BIOMASS is ESA’s (European Space Agency) seventh Earth Explorer mission, currently scheduled for launch in 2023. The satellite will be the first P-band SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) sensor in space and will be operated in fully polarimetric interferometric and tomographic modes. The mission main aim is to map forest properties globally, but the sensor will also allow exploring subsurface scenarios (ice, desert). The BIOMASS Product Algorithm Laboratory (BioPAL) is an evolution of the software developed for the BIOMASS prototype processor.
into an open source library to be used and contributed by the scientific community. This repository collects the software routines for processing Level 1 SAR products to generate Level 2 forest products of Above Ground Biomass (AGB), Forest Heigth (FH) and Forest Disturbance (FD). More details about these products and BIOMASS can be found here.
Purpose#
The BIOMASS Product Algorithm Laboratory (BioPAL) is an open-source scientific computing project, supporting the development of ESA’s BIOMASS mission algorithms coded in Python. The goal of the BioPAL project is to bridge the gap between advancements in scientific algorithm development and fast integration of these advancements into ESA’s BIOMASS’s ground operations. It is the first time that an official ESA Earth Explorer operational processor is supported by open and collaborative development of processing algorithms within the scope of an open-source software project and community.