Forest

Japan's Top Professionals Monitor Forests around the World from Space

• Forests play a variety of important roles, including mitigating global warming and preventing landslide disasters. There are currently fears of worsening deforestation, and international discussions are underway to establish a system for preserving forests. There is an increasing likelihood that captured and stored carbon dioxide will be traded on the market, but turning this into reality requires the quantitative measurement of carbon absorbed by forests. With RESTEC’s knowhow, the technology and experience accumulated over the years in observing forests from space will help to solve this social issue.

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Observing the Forests of the Entire World since 1992

Ever since RESTEC launched JERS-1 called as “Fuyo No.1” in 1992, it has monitored forests throughout the world. Contracted by JAXA, it created the a global forest map for the first time using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). RESTEC uses SAR to carry out large-scale forest monitoring. This leads to the accumulation of knowhow, technology and experience. Furthermore, using ALOS-2 called as “DAICHI-2,” launched in May 2014, allows for the detailed observation of forest, and great expectations are held for it to enable even more accurate estimation of carbon absorption.