Table 2 Operational readiness of current EO sensors for monitoring forest degradation

Broad-scale degradation

(fire/logging/regrowth/disease)

Moderate

(10–100 m)

Optical

VNIR-SWIR

Landsat (1972-)

Yes

Y

Y

Y

Landsat-8 (2013-)

CBERS-4 (2014-)

L-band

DP (10 m)

ALOS-2 PALSAR (2014-)

Global 2 obs year⁻¹;

Tropical 4 obs year⁻¹

Y

Y

N

DP (50 m)

Tropical 9 obs year⁻¹

C-band

SP (20 m)

DP (20 m)

Sentinel-1A/1B (2014-/2016-)

Global, monthly or better (^aS1 BOS)

Y

N

N

DP

RADARSAT-2 (2007-)

Requests required

High

(5–10 m)

Optical

VNIR-SWIR

Sentinel-2 (2015-)

SPOT-6/7 (2012-/2014-)

RapidEye (2009-)

(^aS2 BOS)

Requests required

Y

N

N

X-band

SM

3D TDM

TerraSAR-X (2007-)

TanDEM-X (2011-)

Requests required

Y

N

N

Fine-scale degradation

(selective logging, roads, encroachment)

VHR

(<5 m)

Optical

VNIR-SWIR

GeoEye (2008-)

WorldView-3 (2014-)

Global (heterogeneous)

Y

N

N

X-band

SM/SL

SM

TerraSAR-X (2007-)

COSMO-SkyMed (2007-)

Requests required

Y

N

N

X-band

3D TDM

TanDEM-X (2011-)

Global (2 times)

Y

N

N

LiDAR (airborne)

Full waveform

N/A

No

Y

Y

N