Riparian zones represent transitional areas occurring between land and freshwater ecosystems, characterised by distinctive hydrology, soil and biotic conditions and strongly influenced by the stream water. They provide a wide range of riparian functions (e.g. chemical filtration, flood control, bank stabilization, aquatic life and riparian wildlife support, etc.) and ecosystem services. The Riparian Zones products support the objectives of several European legal acts and policy initiatives, such as the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020, the Habitats and Birds Directives and the Water Framework Directive. This metadata refers to the Riparian Zones 2012 Land Cover/Land Use (LC/LU), which LC/LU classification is tailored to the needs of biodiversity monitoring in a variable buffer zone of selected rivers (Strahler levels 2-9 derived from EU-Hydro) for the reference year 2012. LC/LU is extracted from Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite data and other available data in a buffer zone of selected rivers for supporting biodiversity monitoring and mapping and assessment of ecosystems and their services. The class definitions follow the pre-defined nomenclature on the basis of Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) typology of ecosystems (Level 1 to Level 4) and CORINE Land Cover. The classification provides 55 distinct thematic classes with a Minimum Mapping Unit (MMU) of 0.5 ha and a Minimum Mapping Width (MMW) of 10 m. The nomenclature has been revised in 2020 with the aim to harmonize the products of the local components (mainly Riparian Zones and NATURA 2000 products) while maintaining user requirements for both products. A revised version of the Riparian Zones 2012 has been subsequently released in December 2021, together with the reference year 2018. The production of the Riparian Zones products was coordinated by the European Environment Agency in the frame of the EU Copernicus programme.

The High Resolution Layer Cropping Patterns - Main Crop Harvest (CPMCH) raster product provides the harvest date of the main (annual) crop expressed in days of the year (DOY). The harvest is considered as the time of removal of most of the biomass. YYDOY where YY = last 2 digits of the year (e.g. 19 for 2019) and DOY is the day of the year (1-365) This dataset is provided annually starting in 2017 with 10 meter rasters (fully conformant with the EEA reference grid) in 100 x 100 km tiles covering the EEA38 countries. High Resolution Layer Croplands product is part of the European Union’s Copernicus Land Monitoring Service. Confidence layer available for the dataset. This dataset includes data from the French Overseas Territories (DOMs)

The High Resolution Layer Grassland Mowing Events (GRAME) raster product provides a basic land cover classification containing respectively the number of grassland mowing events within the detected Herbaceous cover layer (temporal and permanent grassland)) with a Minimum Mapping Unit (MMU) of 0.25 ha. The GRAME product will flag and map the number of mowing events (1, 2, 3, or 4+) on temporary or permanent grassland detected per year. This dataset is provided annually starting in 2017 with 10 meter rasters (fully conformant with the EEA reference grid) in 100 x 100 km tiles covering the EEA38 countries. High Resolution Layer Grasslands product is part of the European Union’s Copernicus Land Monitoring Service. Confidence layer available for the dataset. This dataset includes data from the French Overseas Territories (DOMs)

The High Resolution Layer Forest Type (FTY) provides a forest classification with 3 thematic classes (all non-forest areas / broadleaved forest / coniferous forest) at 10m spatial resolution and with a Minimum Mapping Unit (MMU) of 0.5 ha. This raster layer is largely following the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations) forest definition with tree covered areas in agricultural and urban context excluded using the respective Forest Additional Support Layer (FADSL). This dataset is provided on a 3-yearly frequency in 10 meter rasters (fully conformant with the EEA reference grid) in 100 x 100 km tiles covering the EEA38 countries. High Resolution Layer Tree Cover and Forest product is part of the European Union’s Copernicus Land Monitoring Service. This dataset includes data from the French Overseas Territories (DOMs)

The High Resolution Layer Cropping Patterns - Bare Soil Before (CPBSB) raster product provides the bare soil period (in days) before the emergence of the main annual crop. Note that the bare soil period cannot transcend the calendar year for which the product is generated. This dataset is provided annually starting in 2017 with 10 meter rasters (fully conformant with the EEA reference grid) in 100 x 100 km tiles covering the EEA38 countries. High Resolution Layer Croplands product is part of the European Union’s Copernicus Land Monitoring Service. Confidence layer available for the dataset. This dataset includes data from the French Overseas Territories (DOMs)

The Season Maximum Value (MAXV), one of the Vegetation Phenology and Productivity (VPP) parameters, is a product of the pan-European High Resolution Vegetation Phenology and Productivity (HR-VPP) component of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS). The Season Maximum Value (MAXV) provides the maximum (peak) value that the Plant Phenology Index (PPI) reaches during the vegetation growing season. The Plant Phenology Index (PPI) is a physically based vegetation index, developed for improving the monitoring of the vegetation growth cycle. The PPI index values, with 5-day satellite revisit cycle, are first used in a function fitting to derive the PPI Seasonal Trajectories, which is a filtered time series with regular 10-day time step. From these Seasonal Trajectories, a suite of 13 Vegetation Phenology and Productivity (VPP) parameters are then computed and provided, for up to two seasons each year. The Season Maximum Value is one of the 13 parameters. A complementary quality indicator (QFLAG) provides a confidence level, that is described in table 4 of the same manual. The MAXV dataset is made available as raster files with 10 x 10m resolution, in UTM/WGS84 projection corresponding to the Sentinel-2 tiling grid, for those tiles that cover the EEA38 countries and the United Kingdom and for two seasons in each year from 2017 onwards. It is updated in the first quarter of each year.

The End-of-Season Date (EOSD), one of the Vegetation Phenology and Productivity (VPP) parameters, is a product of the pan-European High Resolution Vegetation Phenology and Productivity (HR-VPP) component of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS). The End-of-Season Date (EOSD) marks the date when the vegetation growing season ends in the time profile of the Plant Phenology Index (PPI). The end-of-season occurs, by definition, when the PPI value reaches 15% of the season amplitude during the green-down period. The Plant Phenology Index (PPI) is a physically based vegetation index, developed for improving the monitoring of the vegetation growth cycle. The PPI index values, with 5-day satellite revisit cycle, are first used in a function fitting to derive the PPI Seasonal Trajectories, which is a filtered time series with regular 10-day time step. From these Seasonal Trajectories, a suite of 13 Vegetation Phenology and Productivity (VPP) parameters are then computed and provided, for up to two seasons each year. The End-of-Season Date is one of the 13 parameters. A complementary quality indicator (QFLAG) provides a confidence level, that is described in table 4 of the same manual. The EOSD dataset is made available as raster files with 10 x 10m resolution, in UTM/WGS84 projection corresponding to the Sentinel-2 tiling grid, for those tiles that cover the EEA38 countries and the United Kingdom and for two seasons in each year from 2017 onwards. It is updated in the first quarter of each year.

The High Resolution Layer Cropping Patterns - Secondary Crop Type (CPSCT) raster product indicates if a cover crop was present within the respective calendar year and further segregates the types of cover crop into: short summer, long summer, short winter and long winter cover crop. This dataset is provided annually starting in 2017 with 10 meter rasters (fully conformant with the EEA reference grid) in 100 x 100 km tiles covering the EEA38 countries. High Resolution Layer Croplands product is part of the European Union’s Copernicus Land Monitoring Service. Confidence layer available for the dataset. This dataset includes data from the French Overseas Territories (DOMs)

The High Resolution Layer Cropping Patterns - Main Crop Emergence (CPMCE) raster product provides the emergence date of the main (annual) crop expressed in DOY (day of year). YYDOY where YY = last 2 digits of the year (e.g. 19 for 2019) and DOY is the day of the year (1-365). This dataset is provided annually starting in 2017 with 10 meter rasters (fully conformant with the EEA reference grid) in 100 x 100 km tiles covering the EEA38 countries. High Resolution Layer Croplands product is part of the European Union’s Copernicus Land Monitoring Service. Confidence layer available for the dataset. This dataset includes data from the French Overseas Territories (DOMs)

The Slope of the green-up period (Left Slope, LSLOPE), one of the Vegetation Phenology and Productivity (VPP) parameters, is a product of the pan-European High Resolution Vegetation Phenology and Productivity (HR-VPP) component of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS). The slope of the green-up period (LSLOPE) expresses the rate of change in the values of the Plant Phenology Index (PPI) at the day when the vegetation growing season starts. The Plant Phenology Index (PPI) is a physically based vegetation index, developed for improving the monitoring of the vegetation growth cycle. The PPI index values, with 5-day satellite revisit cycle, are first used in a function fitting to derive the PPI Seasonal Trajectories, which is a filtered time series with regular 10-day time step. From these Seasonal Trajectories, a suite of 13 Vegetation Phenology and Productivity (VPP) parameters are then computed and provided, for up to two seasons each year. The green-up period slope is one of the 13 parameters. A complementary quality indicator (QFLAG) provides a confidence level, that is described in table 4 of the same manual. The LSLOPE dataset is made available as raster files with 10 x 10m resolution, in UTM/WGS84 projection corresponding to the Sentinel-2 tiling grid, for those tiles that cover the EEA38 countries and the United Kingdom and for two seasons in each year from 2017 onwards. It is updated in the first quarter of each year.