'Spectacular' images revealed by forest spotting space mission

This image shows the Bolivian forest and landscape captured from space

The European Space Agency has revealed the first pictures taken by its new space satellite, Biomass.

The images show in great detail a variety of landscapes from continents across the world including South America, Africa and Asia.

Biomass' five-year mission will provide detailed three dimensional maps of the world's most dense and remote tropical forests.

Using instruments on board, it can measure woody trunks, branches and stems of trees.

Biomass satellite: What has it captured?

This image shows the Ivindo River and surrounding rainforest in Gabon, central Africa

The Biomass mission was launched two months ago, on 29 April, from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.

According to the ESA, these first images released mark a huge step towards understanding how Earth's forests are changing and exactly how they contribute to the global carbon cycle.

This cycle is the process in which carbon continuously circulates between the atmosphere, the earth, and living things like plants and animals.

This vibrant colours in each picture were created using instruments on board Biomass, with each colour revealing different types of landscape.

For example, green hues mainly represent rainforests, red areas are forested floodplains and wetlands, grasslands are pictured in bluey–purple, while black areas are rivers and lakes.

This picture shows some of Indonesia's volcanoes in 3D as well as its forests

The team say that, as the mission is in its early days, they are fine-tuning the satellite to make sure it delivers the highest quality data for scientists to accurately determine how much carbon is stored in the world's forests.

ESA's Biomass Project Manager, Michael Fehringer, explained: "Biomass is equipped with novel space technology, so we've been closely monitoring its performance in orbit, and we're very pleased to report that everything is functioning smoothly.

He also expressed how happy scientists were with the pictures.

"Its first images are nothing short of spectacular - and they're only a mere glimpse of what is still to come," Fehringer added.

What is ESA's Biomass satellite?

Biomass is the first space satellite to carry a long wavelength radar, called P-band.

This special radar means that it can scan deep through the forest canopy and collect information on different parts of the forest, such as tree trunks, branches and stems - where trees store most of their carbon.

This will allow the satellite to provide experts on the ground with new information on forest height and above-ground forest biomass from space.

Scientists will then be able to find out more about the state of our forests and how they are changing, and further our knowledge about the role that forests play in the carbon cycle.

The ESA mission will be divided into two phases:

The first will provide detailed 3D maps of forests on Earth. This is important as it's not possible to find out the global mass of trees from the ground.

The second phase will produce five global maps which will enable forest height and above-ground biomass to be estimated.

The hope is that this data will help experts better understand the state of our forests and how they are changing.

Why is the Biomass mission important?

Forests are full of trees and other plants, which absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen.

All animals, including humans, breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. This means trees help to provide us with the oxygen we need to survive.

Often referred to as "Earth's green lungs," forests absorb around eight billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year.

Experts say that by absorbing carbon dioxide, trees prevent pollution, improve air quality and slow down the effects of climate change.

Being able to calculate the global carbon cycle is essential to understanding how the world's forests are changing and the future effects this might have for our climate.

The new Biomass mission has been designed to help scientists do just that.