NCEO Kenya forest aboveground biomass map 2015 v21.0

The NCEO Kenya forest aboveground biomass map shows aboveground woody biomass (AGB) in Kenyan forests. Forest areas include vegetated wetlands and wooded grassland for the year 2015. The map was generated by combining field inventory plots (KFS) with Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS-2), Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR-2) and multispectral optical data (NASA Landsat 8), by means of a Random Forests algorithm within a k-Fold calibration/validation framework. The characterization of carbon stocks and dynamics at the national level is critical for countries engaging in climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. However, several tropical countries, including Kenya, lack the essential information typically provided by a complete national forest inventory. These data were produced by the National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO), University of Leicester, in collaboration with the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) with funding from the NCEO ODA Programme. Known Issues: Residual scan line corrector (SLC) effects due to the use of the SLEEK land cover product as a retrieval mask (derived from Landsat imagery) are visible in some areas