Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetic Radiation (FAPAR)

The Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FAPAR) is an Essential Climate Variable that serves as an integrated indicator of the status and health of plant canopies. FAPAR plays a critical role in the global carbon cycle and in determining primary productivity of the biosphere. Climate change affects the terrestrial ecosystem dynamics, but few of these dynamics are observable from space. FAPAR is monitored using space remote sensing techniques, allowing high resolution and near-real-time measures of the state and evolution of terrestrial vegetation dynamics.