Estimating Biomass From Sentinel-3 Altimetry Data: A Sensitivity Analysis

ALtimetry for BIOMass (ALBIOM) is a research project funded by the European Space Agency to study the possibility of estimating above ground biomass by means of low- and high-resolution Sentinel-3 altimetry data. We present preliminary results of a sensitivity analysis, developed to assess in what extent waveforms and altimetry observables are affected by the presence of forests. Ku- and C-band altimetry data have been collected and processed to properly select well-tracked waveforms over land, which are then related to collocated biomass data. A statistical analysis has been performed, highlighting a sensitivity of the estimated normalized radar cross section with respect to forest biomass, even though it is strongly disturbed by the soil topography within the radar footprint. Additionally, the inaccurate positioning of the time-tracking window limits the number of useful data.