Kioto+ mission: Global and accurate monitoring of forest, land cover and carbon

This publication presents the results of a feasibility study on a proposed superhigh resolution satellite mission Kioto+. The study was conducted by an international consortium in response to the 2005 call for ideas for Earth Explorer missions of the European Space Agency (ESA). Kioto+ offers reliable and global data to near in-situ measurement accuracy on land cover and forest cover. It also gives information about their development over time. A super-high resolution optical instrument is proposed to achieve statistically representative and precise measurements. The information will greatly improve our understanding of the global carbon and water cycles, and the credibility of estimates of terrestrial carbon storage. The imagery will also give globally accurate training and validation data for wall-to-wall imaging instruments. The mission is named Kioto+ because the projected timescale of the mission (post-2011) means that it will primarily have relevance to successor treaties of the Kyoto Protocol to the FCCC of the United Nations.