Help conservationists make use of satellite imagery to estimate the aboveground biomass of Finnish forests.
Quick Facts
Participants
No. of Entries
Prize
Winner
kbrodt
1st Place
Overview
Do you ever fail to see the forest for the trees? How about the aboveground biomass for the forest? When it comes to understanding how forests change over time, scientists and conservationists across the world look to this exact metric. Aboveground biomass (ABGM) is a widespread measure in the study of carbon release and sequestration by forests. Forests can act as carbon sinks by removing carbon dioxide from the air through photosynthesis, but they can also release carbon dioxide through wildfires, respiration, and decomposition. In order to understand how much carbon a forest contains (its carbon stock) and how it changes (carbon flux), it is important to have an accurate measure of AGBM. In turn, such information allows landowners and policy makers to make better decisions for the conservation of forests.
There are a variety of methods that can be used to estimate ABGM, ranging from destructive sampling, which involves cutting down a representative sample of trees and measuring attributes such as the height and width of their crowns and trunks, to remote sensing methods. Remote sensing methods offer a much faster, less destructive, and more geographically expansive biomass estimate. In particular, LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) is one such method that is often used to generate precise three-dimensional information about the Earth's surface. However, airborne LiDAR measurements are time consuming and expensive sources of data to collect. To get accurate biomass, LiDAR must also be calibrated with on-the-ground sampling methods. It is challenging to cover and monitor large areas with continuous acquisitions.
Conversely, satellite imagery provided by satellites like Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 is more timely and has wider coverage. Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 are two of five missions developed by the European Commission and the European Space Agency as a part of the Copernicus program, which is an Earth-observation initiative. These satellites are built to monitor several phenomena such as sea ice, oil spills and ships, winds and waves, and land use changes. The data collected by Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 can be highly effective in measuring the most important metrics for forest management and conservation and climate change mitigation, if used correctly.
For this challenge, your job is to estimate the yearly biomass of different sections in Finland's forests using imagery from Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2. The ground truth for this challenge is derived from airborne LiDAR surveys and in-situ measurements. Head over to the problem description page to learn more about how to see the forest!
Competition End Date:Jan. 27, 2023, 11:59 p.m. UTC |
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Bonus Award: Top MATLAB User
We're offering a bonus prize of $2,000 to the top contributor using MATLAB. Just make sure to fill out the Software Environment form to be considered for the prize. This is required to be eligible for the bonus prize, though we'd love to hear from you regardless of what environment you're using!
See the MathWorks competition page for more information about complimentary software licenses and learning resources for this challenge.
Note: Bonus recipient can also be a winner of the general prize pool. MathWorks employees are not eligible for prizes.
How to compete
- Click the "Join the competition" button in the sidebar to enroll in the competition.
- Get familiar with the problem through the about page and problem description. You might also want to reference some of the additional resources from the about page.
- Download the data from the data tab.
- Create and train your own model. The benchmark blog post, which is written in MATLAB, is a good place to start.
- Use your model to generate predictions that match the submission format.
- Click “Submit” in the sidebar, and “Make new submission”. You’re in!
Prize generously supplied by our friends at MathWorks.
Image courtesy of Miikka Luotio on Unsplash
The BioMassters: Rules and Terms of Data Use
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Limitations of liability
By participating in the Competition, each Participant agrees that: (1) any and all disputes, claims, and causes of action arising out of or in connection with the Competition, or any prize awarded, shall be resolved individually without resort to any form of class action; (2) any claims, judgments and awards shall be limited to actual out-of-pocket costs incurred, including costs associated with entering the Competition, but in no event attorney's fees; and (3) under no circumstances will a Participant be permitted to obtain any award for, and each Participant hereby waives all rights to claim, punitive, incidental or consequential damages and any and all rights to have damages multiplied or otherwise increased and any other damages, other than damages for actual out-of-pocket expenses.
DrivenData, Inc., Competition Sponsor, and the employees, officers, directors, shareholders, agents, representatives, affiliates, subsidiaries, and advertising, promotional and legal advisors thereof (collectively, the “Released Parties”) are not responsible and shall not be liable for: (i) late, lost, delayed, damaged, misdirected, incomplete, illegible, or unintelligible entries; (ii) telephone, electronic, hardware, or software program, network, Internet, or computer malfunctions, failures, or difficulties; (iii) errors in transmission; (iv) any condition caused by events beyond the control of the Released Parties that may cause the Competition to be disrupted or corrupted; (v) any injuries, losses, or damages of any kind caused by a prize or resulting from acceptance, possession, or use of a prize, or from participation in the Competition (however (but only if required by law in your jurisdiction), this release and hold harmless commitment does not apply to cases of bodily injury or loss of life to the extent that any death or personal injury is caused by the negligence of DrivenData, Competition Sponsor, or other third parties, where liability to the injured party cannot be excluded by law); or (vi) any printing or typographical errors in any materials associated with the Competition.
Disclaimer of Warranties
You understand that we cannot and do not guarantee or warrant that the Data or other files available for downloading from the internet or the Competition Website will be free of viruses or other destructive code. You are responsible for implementing sufficient procedures and checkpoints to satisfy your particular requirements for anti-virus protection and accuracy of data input and output, and for maintaining a means external to our site for any reconstruction of any lost data. RELEASED PARTIES WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE CAUSED BY A DISTRIBUTED DENIAL-OF-SERVICE ATTACK, VIRUSES OR OTHER TECHNOLOGICALLY HARMFUL MATERIAL THAT MAY INFECT YOUR COMPUTER EQUIPMENT, COMPUTER PROGRAMS, DATA OR OTHER PROPRIETARY MATERIAL DUE TO YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITE OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE OR TO YOUR DOWNLOADING OF ANY MATERIAL POSTED ON IT, OR ON ANY WEBSITE LINKED TO IT.
YOUR USE OF THE COMPETITION WEBSITE, ITS CONTENT AND ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE AND RECEIPT OF ANY PRIZES IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE WEBSITE, ITS CONTENT AND ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS, WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, BEYOND ANY NON-EXCLUDABLE GUARANTEES (DEFINED BELOW). NEITHER THE RELEASED PARTIES NOR ANY PERSON ASSOCIATED WITH RELEASED PARTIES MAKES ANY WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION WITH RESPECT TO THE COMPLETENESS, SECURITY, RELIABILITY, QUALITY, ACCURACY OR AVAILABILITY OF THE COMPETITION WEBSITE. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, NEITHER RELEASED PARTIES NOR ANYONE ASSOCIATED WITH THE RELEASED PARTIES REPRESENTS OR WARRANTS THAT THE COMPETITION WEBSITE, ITS CONTENT OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE WILL BE ACCURATE, RELIABLE, ERROR-FREE OR UNINTERRUPTED, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, THAT OUR SITE OR THE SERVER THAT MAKES IT AVAILABLE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS OR THAT THE COMPETITION WEBSITE OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE WILL OTHERWISE MEET YOUR NEEDS OR EXPECTATIONS.
NOTHING IN THESE COMPETITION RULES LIMITS, EXCLUDES, OR MODIFIES OR PURPORTS TO LIMIT, EXCLUDE, OR MODIFY ANY STATUTORY CONSUMER GUARANTEE OR ANY IMPLIED CONDITION OR WARRANTY, THE EXCLUSION OF WHICH FROM THESE COMPETITION RULES WOULD CONTRAVENE ANY STATUTE OR CAUSE ANY PART OF THESE TERMS TO BE VOID (“NON-EXCLUDABLE GUARANTEES”). SUBJECT TO THE LIMITATIONS IN THE PRECEDING SENTENCE AND TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY ANY MANDATORY PROVISIONS OF APPLICABLE LAW, THE RELEASED PARTIES HEREBY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT AND FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
THE FOREGOING DOES NOT AFFECT ANY WARRANTIES WHICH CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.
Governing Law and Jurisdiction
DrivenData shall be the sole interpreter of these Competition Rules.
All matters relating to the Competition Rules or the Competition and any dispute or claim arising therefrom or related thereto (in each case, including non-contractual disputes or claims), shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts without giving effect to any choice or conflict of law provision or rule (whether of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or any other jurisdiction).
Any legal suit, action or proceeding arising out of, or related to, the Competition or the Competition Website shall be instituted exclusively in the federal courts of the United States or the courts of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts although we retain the right to bring any suit, action or proceeding against you for breach of these Terms of Use in your country of residence or any other relevant country. You waive any and all objections to the exercise of jurisdiction over you by such courts and to venue in such courts.
The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of these Competition Rules shall not affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision. In the event that any provision is determined to be invalid or otherwise unenforceable or illegal, these Competition Rules shall otherwise remain in effect and be construed in accordance with their terms as if the invalid or illegal provision was not contained herein.