Wu and Strahler (1994) discusses a method of estimating total standing biomass of coniferous stands, using an inverted canopy reflectance (geometric-optic) model approach with 30 m Landsat TM data. The use of MODIS data is discussed in Cartus et al. (2011), where a MODIS product, vegetation continuous field (VCF), is used in fusion with SAR data. The VCF product provides global estimates of tree canopy cover at 500 m x 500 m pixel size and where tree canopy cover refers to the fraction of skylight obstructed by canopies of trees that are at least 5 m high. Although the VCF product was validated only partially, it was suitable for the fusion since it is only used to identify areas with low and high canopy cover and the accuracy of the canopy cover estimates is not crucial. The study provided an approach for fully automated stem volume estimation with ERS-1/2 tandem coherence although topographic effects still constraints the use of coherence in general. This presents just one of many studies that show the usefulness of multispectral imagery for biomass assessment, with these kinds of sensors often used in tandem with fine — scale assessment to scale estimates to larger areas, e. g., Duncanson et al. (2010) and Roberts et al. (2011). The reader is referred to this latter study for a comprehensive overview of such approaches.