A pre-market service to estimate annual woody biomass increase on a regional level

Abstract

In frame of the EU FP7 project ENDORSE (Energy Downstream Services – Providing energy components for GMES) a pre-market service is developed to estimate the annual above ground biomass increase for forests. This is done in close cooperation with experts in the field of forestry, with the aim on cost and time efficiency. We use the BETHY/DLR model to calculate NPP of forest areas in Brandenburg. BETHY/DLR is designed to be driven with remote sensing based time series of the Leaf Area Index (LAI) which are currently taken from SPOT-VEGETATION. Furthermore meteorological time series of the temperature, precipitation, cloud coverage and wind speed are needed. These are taken from the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF). Additionally static information about land use (GLC2000), altitude (SRTM), and soil type (FAO/IIASA) are integrated.