A Biomass map of Africa's woodlands and savannas

Abstract

We present the first high-resolution (500 m) map of biomass covering the woodlands and savannas of Africa. This is based on 9.5 years of daily remote sensing data and a unique dataset of over 3000 biomass plots from 11 countries across the continent. The few extant global maps are of too low resolution to be of much use for conservation planning or estimating carbon stocks and emissions accurately in this ecosystem, as savannas and woodlands are highly heterogeneous at every scale. Hitherto, the one Africa-specific map that has been published at a relatively high resolution (1 km) [1] is focused on forests, and only covers a small subset of the African continent. Our data from savannas, woodlands and forest-savanna transition regions across the continent should produce a map of higher accuracy for these biomes