The Impervious Built-up (IBU) layer for the reference year 2018 is a thematic product showing the binary information of building (class 1) and no building (class 0) within the sealing outline derived from the Imperviousness Density layer for the period 2018 for the EEA38 countries and the United Kingdom. The production of the high resolution imperviousness layers is coordinated by the EEA in the frame of the EU Copernicus programme. 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, 2015 and 2018 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, 2015-2018 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. The dataset is provided as 10 meter rasters (fully conformant with the EEA reference grid) in 100 x 100 km tiles grouped according to the EEA38 and the United Kingdom.

The European Urban Atlas provides reliable, inter-comparable, high-resolution land use and land cover data for 785 Functional Urban Area (FUA) for the 2012 reference year in EEA38 countries (EU, EFTA and Western Balkan countries as well as Türkiye) and United Kingdom. The spatial data can be downloaded together with a map for each FUA covered and a report with the metadata for the respective area. Urban Atlas is a joint initiative of the Commission Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy and the Directorate-General for Defence Industry and Space (DEFIS) in the frame of the EU Copernicus programme, with the support of the European Space Agency and the European Environment Agency.

The Coastal Zones (CZ) LC/LU product for 2012 is providing a detailed Land Cover / Land Use (LC/ LU) dataset for areas along the coastline of the EEA38 countries and the United Kingdom, with reference year 2012 for the classification. This 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 product covers a buffer zone of coastline derived from EU-Hydro v1.1. Land Cover/Land Use (LC/LU) layer is extracted from Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite data and other available data. 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 product is available for the 2012 and 2018 reference year including change mapping. This CZ dataset is distributed in vector format, in a single OGC GeoPackage SQLite file covering the area of interest.

The High Resolution Layer Cropping Patterns - Main Crop Duration (CPMCD) raster product provides the duration (in days) of the growing season for the main (annual) 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 Grassland (GRA) raster product provides a binary status layer of grassland/non-grassland mask. This grassy and non-woody vegetation baseline product includes all kinds of grasslands: managed grassland, semi-natural grassland and natural grassy vegetation. It does not include temporary grasslands, which are masked out using the corresponding Ploughing indicator (PLOUGH), indicating on the number of years since a pixel was last ploughed. 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 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 High Resolution Layer on Imperviousness Density 2018 is a thematic product showing the sealing density in the range from 0-100% for the period 2018 (including data from 2017-2019) for the EEA-38 area and the United Kingdom. The production of the high resolution imperviousness layers is coordinated by EEA in the frame of the EU Copernicus programme. 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, 2015 and 2018 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, 2015-2018 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. Data is provided as 10 meter rasters (fully conformant with the EEA reference grid) in 100 x 100 km tiles grouped according to the EEA38 countries and the United Kingdom.

This metadata refers to the Quality Flag (QFLAG2) dataset, one of the near real-time (NRT) Vegetation Index products of the pan-European High Resolution Vegetation Phenology and Productivity (HR-VPP), component of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS). The Quality Flag (QFLAG2) is a quality indicator that assists users with the screening of clouds, shadows from clouds and topography, other dark areas, snow and water surfaces in their analysis of the four related Vegetation Indices datasets: the Plant Phenology Index (PPI), the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), the Leaf Area Index (LAI) and the Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FAPAR). The QFLAG2 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 the period from October 2016 until today, with daily updates.

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.

This metadata refers to the Corine Land Cover plus Backbone (CLCplus Backbone), a spatially detailed, large-scale, Earth Observation-based land cover inventory which is produced by the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS). The CLCplus Backbone is a high-resolution raster land cover map based on Sentinel-2 satellite time series. Each 10m-pixel contains the dominant land cover among the 11 basic land cover classes. See pixel class codes in the 'Additional Information' section below. The product is available from the 2018 reference year, with a first update produced for the 2021 reference year and moved to an update cycle of 2 years from 2021 onwards.