Validation of ESA-CCI Forest Biomass Products over India: Methodological and Data Challenges and Results

Forest Biomass Assessment Using Multisource Earth Observation Data: Techniques, Data Sets and Applications

“…This issue comprises 17 articles, all focusing on Indian sites as study regions and encompassing various forest types, including two studies on mangroves. These articles can be broadly categorized as: (a) Forest biomass estimation using optical sensors, with attention to very high resolution and hyperspectral data (Pardeshi et al, 2024;Pasha & Dadhwal, 2024;Singh et al, 2024;Verma et al, 2024), (b) Utilization of SAR sensors, including polarimetric data, for biomass estimation (Ali & Khati, 2024;Bhavsar et al, 2024;Hati et al, 2024;Singhal et al, 2024), (c) Application of LiDAR sensors, both terrestrial and spaceborne, for biomass estimation Rodda et al, 2024aRodda et al, , 2024b, (d) Integration of multi-sensor EO data for biomass estimation (Behera et al, 2024;Prakash et al, 2024;Sainuddin et al, 2024;Sanam et al, 2024), and (e) Biomass product validation, regional studies, and application-focused research (Bhat et al, 2024).…”

“…Although these products have been developed and tested using global field datasets, there has been limited utilization of Indian field measurements for validation purposes. Bhat et al (2024) compiled a database of field measurements from published literature to validate ESA-CCI 2018 & 2010 and Santoro-2010 datasets. Overall, all products showed saturation and failed to accurately capture AGB of plots exceeding 250 Mg ha −1 , while also underestimating the mean AGB for large areas.…”