The ERS-1 (European Remote Sensing Satellite -1) was the first environmental monitoring satellite developed by ESA. The mission detected land and ocean surface change and provided observation data on oceans, polar ice, vegetation, geology, meteorology and ecology.

Albedo is the ratio of the radiation (radiant energy or luminous energy) reflected by a surface to that incident on it. Snow and cloud surfaces have a high albedo, because most of the energy of the visible solar spectrum is reflected. Vegetation and ocean surfaces have low albedo, because they absorb a large fraction of the energy. Clouds are the chief cause of variations in the Earth's albedo.The land surface albedo is the ratio of the radiant flux reflected from Earth's surface to the incident flux. It is a key forcing parameter controlling the partitioning of radiative energy between the atmospheric and surface. In the case of vegetation, a reference surface is typically defined at or near the top of the canopy and must be specified explicitly. Surface albedo depends on natural variations, highly variable in space and time as a result of terrestrial properties changes, and with illumination conditions and human activities and is a sensitive indicator of environmental vulnerability.

The high resolution imperviousness products capture the percentage and change of soil sealing. Built-up areas are characterized by the substitution of the original (semi-) natural land cover or water surface with an artificial, often impervious cover. These artificial surfaces are usually maintained over long periods of time. A series of high resolution imperviousness datasets (for the 2006, 2009, 2012 and 2015 reference years) with all artificially sealed areas was produced using automatic derivation based on calibrated Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). This series of imperviousness layers constitutes the main status layers. They are per-pixel estimates of impermeable cover of soil (soil sealing) and are mapped as the degree of imperviousness (0-100%). Imperviousness change layers were produced as a difference between the reference years (2006-2009, 2009-2012, 2012-2015 and additionally 2006-2012, to fully match the CORINE Land Cover production cycle) and are presented 1) as degree of imperviousness change (-100% -- +100%), in 20m and 100m pixel size, and 2) a classified (categorical) 20m change product.

EMODnet Chemistry aims to provide access to marine chemistry data sets and derived data products concerning eutrophication, acidity and contaminants. The chemicals chosen reflect importance to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). ITS-90 water temperature and Water body salinity variables have been also included (as-is) to complete the Eutrophication and Acidity data. This aggregated dataset contains all unrestricted EMODnet Chemistry data on Eutrophication and Acidity (14 parameters with quality flag indicators), and covers the Baltic Sea with 175834 CDI stations (175778 Vertical profiles and 56 Time series). Vertical profiles temporal range is from 1902-08-05 to 2020-10-10. Time series temporal range is from 2010-01-12 to 2016-02-10. Data were aggregated and quality controlled by "Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI)" from Sweden. Regional datasets concerning eutrophication and acidity are automatically harvested and resulting collections are aggregated and quality controlled using ODV Software and following a common methodology for all Sea Regions ( https://doi.org/10.6092/9f75ad8a-ca32-4a72-bf69-167119b2cc12). When not present in original data, Water body nitrate plus nitrite was calculated by summing up the Nitrates and Nitrites. Same procedure was applied for Water body dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) which was calculated by summing up the Nitrates, Nitrites and Ammonium. Parameter names are based on P35, EMODnet Chemistry aggregated parameter names vocabulary, which is available at: https://www.bodc.ac.uk/resources/vocabularies/vocabulary_search/P35/ Detailed documentation is available at: https://dx.doi.org/10.6092/4e85717a-a2c9-454d-ba0d-30b89f742713 Explore and extract data at: https://emodnet-chemistry.webodv.awi.de/eutrophication%3EBaltic The aggregated dataset can also be downloaded as ODV collection and spreadsheet, which is composed of metadata header followed by tab separated values. This spreadsheet can be imported to ODV Software for visualisation (More information can be found at: https://www.seadatanet.org/Software/ODV ) The original datasets can be searched and downloaded from EMODnet Chemistry Chemistry CDI Data and Discovery Access Service: https://emodnet-chemistry.maris.nl/search

EMODnet Chemistry aims to provide access to marine chemistry data sets and derived data products concerning eutrophication, ocean acidification, contaminants and litter. The chosen parameters are relevant for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), in particular for descriptors 5, 8, 9 and 10. The dataset contains standardized, harmonized and validated data collections from beach litter (monitoring and other sources). Datasets concerning beach and seafloor litter data are loaded in a central database after a semi-automated validation phase. Once loaded, a data assessment is performed in order to check data consistency and potential errors are corrected thanks to a feedback loop with data originators. For beach litter, the harmonized datasets contain all unrestricted EMODnet Chemistry data on beach litter, including monitoring data, data from cleaning surveys and data from research. A relevant part of the monitoring data has been considered for assessment purposes by the European institutions and therefore is tagged as MSFD_monitoring. EMODnet beach litter data and databases are hosted and maintained by 'Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale, Division of Oceanography (OGS/NODC)' from Italy. Data are formatted following Guidelines and forms for gathering marine litter data, which can be found at: https://doi.org/10.6092/15c0d34c-a01a-4091-91ac-7c4f561ab508 The updated vocabularies of admitted values are available at: https://nodc.ogs.it/marinelitter/vocab The harmonized datasets can be downloaded as EMODnet Beach litter data format Version 7.0, which is a spreadsheet file composed of 4 sheets: beach metadata, survey metadata, animals and litter. Local_CDI field in the survey metadata sheet allows to retrieve the original data.

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)

EMODnet Chemistry aims to provide access to marine chemistry data sets and derived data products concerning eutrophication, ocean acidification, contaminants and litter. The chosen parameters are relevant for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), in particular for descriptors 5, 8, 9 and 10. The dataset contains standardized, harmonized and validated data collections from beach litter (monitoring and other sources). Datasets concerning beach and seafloor litter data are loaded in a central database after a semi-automated validation phase. Once loaded, a data assessment is performed in order to check data consistency and potential errors are corrected thanks to a feedback loop with data originators. For beach litter, the harmonized datasets contain all unrestricted EMODnet Chemistry data on beach litter, including monitoring data, data from cleaning surveys and data from research. A relevant part of the monitoring data has been considered for assessment purposes by the European institutions and therefore is tagged as MSFD_monitoring. EMODnet beach litter data and databases are hosted and maintained by 'Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale, Division of Oceanography (OGS/NODC)' from Italy. Data are formatted following Guidelines and forms for gathering marine litter data, which can be found at: https://doi.org/10.6092/15c0d34c-a01a-4091-91ac-7c4f561ab508. The updated vocabularies of admitted values are available in https://nodc.ogs.it/marinelitter/vocab. The harmonized datasets can be downloaded as EMODnet Beach litter data format Version 7.0, which is a spreadsheet file composed of 4 sheets: beach metadata, survey metadata, animals and litter.

Energy class layer produced by EMODnet Seabed Habitats as an input layer (habitat descriptor) for the 2025 EUSeaMap broad-scale habitat model. The extent of the mapped area includes the Baltic Sea, and areas of the North Eastern Atlantic and Arctic extending from the Canary Islands in the south to Norway in the North. The map of energy classes was produced using underlying wave and current data and thresholds derived from statistical analyses or expert judgement on known conditions. This layer was updated in EUSeaMap 2025 using a the wave Kinetic energy layer at the seabed layer for the European Shelf area used in 2023 (linked in the Online Resources). An accompanying confidence layer is available for viewing and download from EMODnet Seabed Habitats. A report on the methods used in the 2025 version of EUSeaMap will be added in due course, but reports on previous versions (v2019, v2021 and v2023) are available in the lineage. Credit: Licensed under CC-BY 4.0 from the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) Seabed Habitats initiative (https://emodnet.ec.europa.eu/en/seabed-habitats), funded by the European Commission.

The Coastal Zones LC/LU Change (CZC) 2012-2018 is providing the Land Cover / Land Use (LC/ LU) change for areas along the coastline of the EEA38 countries and the United Kingdom, between the reference years 2012 and 2018. The Coastal Zones product monitors landscape dynamics in European coastal territory to an inland depth of 10 km with a total area of approximately 730,000 km², with all the relevant areas (estuaries, coastal lowlands, nature reserves). The production of the coastal zone layers was coordinated by the European Environment Agency (EEA) in the frame of the EU Copernicus programme, as part of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS) Local Component. The Coastal Zones Change product covers a buffer zone of coastline derived from EU-Hydro v1.1. The Land Cover/Land Use (LC/LU) Change layer is extracted from Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite data and other available data. The reference years for the change are 2012 and 2018. 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 adapted to the specific characteristics of coastal zones. The classification provides 71 distinct thematic classes with a Minimum Mapping Unit (MMU) of 0.5 ha and a Minimum Mapping Width (MMW) of 10 m. The status product is available for the 2012 and 2018 reference years. This CZC dataset is distributed in vector format, in a single OGC GeoPackage file covering the area of interest.

Running 6-year analysis of Water body dissolved inorganic nitrogen in the Baltic Sea. Four seasons (March-May, June-August, September-November, December-February). Every year of the time dimension corresponds to a 6-year centred average. Periods span between 1975-2021. Analyses for depths (m) (HELCOM standard depths): 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200, 225, 250, 275, 300. Data Sources: observational data from SeaDataNet/EMODnet Chemistry Data Network. Description of DIVA analysis: Geostatistical data analysis by DIVAnd (Data-Interpolating Variational Analysis in n dimensions) tool. GEBCO_08 Grid (30 arc-seconds) topography is used for the contouring preparation. Files contain analysed fields, error fields and combined field with the deepest value for each grid point selected. Also pre-masked fields using relative error threshold 0.3 and 0.5 are included. In the analyses the horizontal correlation length is fixed to 80 km and decreasing towards the coastline, the vertical correlation length is varying with depth. Signal to noise ratio is fixed to 1.0. Background fields were created using data for the given time period and season. Log transformation was used in the analyses. No detrending, advection constraints or weighting are applied. Unit is umol/l.