High Resolution land cover characteristics for the 2018 reference year. Small woody landscape features are important vectors of biodiversity and provide information on fragmentation of habitats with a direct potential for restoration while also providing a link to hazard protection and green infrastructure, amongst others. VHR_IMAGE_2018 made available in the ESA Copernicus DWH will be the main data source for the detection of small woody features identifiable within the given image resolution. The Small Woody Features (SWFs) layer contains woody linear and patchy elements but will not be further differentiated into trees, hedges, bushes and scrub. The spatial pattern shall be limited to linear structures and isolated patches on the basis of geometric characteristics.

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 main high resolution grassland product is the Grassland layer, a grassland/non-grassland mask for the EEA39. This grassy and non-woody vegetation baseline product includes all kinds of grasslands: managed grassland, semi-natural grassland and natural grassy vegetation. It is a binary status layer for the 2015 reference year mapping grassland and all non-grassland areas in 20m and (aggregated) 100m pixel size and for the 2018 reference year - in 10m and (aggregated) 100m pixel size. The production of the high resolution grassland layers was coordinated by the European Environment Agency (EEA) in the frame of the EU Copernicus programme.

The Share of Built-Up Change Classified (SBCC) 2018-2021 layer is part of the High Resolution Layer (HRL) Imperviousness and provides categorical information on the change of built-up per pixel between the reference years 2018 and 2021 as derived from a re-classification of the Share of Built-Up Change (IMDC) 2021–2018 layer. The production of the HRL Imperviousness is coordinated by EEA in the frame of Copernicus, the Earth observation component of the European Union’s Space programme. The product is a raster dataset with 100-meter grid spacing (spatial resolution) that covers the 38 Eionet member and cooperating countries as well as the United Kingdom (i.e. EEA38+UK). It is distributed as 100 x 100 km tiles that are fully conformant with the EEA reference grid.

The Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 Snow Phenology (SP S1+S2) product is generated once a year over high-mountain areas at European scale, based on daily cumulative Gap-Filled Fractional Snow Cover (GFSC) products calculated from Sentinel-2 optical and Sentinel-1 radar data. This product describes the snow season in terms of temporality as it provides, for each pixel, the number of days with snow cover, as well as the first and the last day of the longest observed snow period. It has a spatial resolution of 100 m x 100 m. Each product is composed of separate files corresponding to the different layers of the product, and another metadata file. The product is also available in another projection as tiles aligned with Sentinel-2 (UTM/WGS84) at 60 m x 60 m. SP S1+S2 is one of the products of the pan-European High-Resolution Water Snow & Ice portfolio (HR-WSI), which are provided at high spatial resolution from the Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-1 constellations data from September 1, 2016 onwards. t.

The High Resolution Layer Broadleaved Density (BCD) dataset provides information on the percentage of broadleaved pixels at 100m spatial resolution, and is derived through aggregation of the 10m DLT for the respective reference year. Within each cell the number of broadleaved pixels are counted and the percentages stored into in the 100m pixel of the BCD. The class 255 = outside area is predefined by the 100m boundary layer and remains unchanged. This dataset is provided annually starting with 2018 in 100 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 Coniferous Cover Density (CCD) dataset provides information on the percentage of coniferous pixels at 100m spatial resolution, and is derived through aggregation of the 10m DLT for the respective reference year. Within each cell the number of broadleaved pixels are counted and the percentages stored into in the 100m pixel of the BCD. The class 255 = outside area is predefined by the 100m boundary layer and remains unchanged. This dataset is provided annually starting with 2018 in 100 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 Share of Built-up (SBU) layer for the reference year 2018 represents share (percentage) of built-up (IBU) for the reference year 2018 in an aggregated version of 100m spatial resolution 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 100 meter aggregate raster (fully conformant with the EEA reference grid) is provided as a full EEA38 and United Kingdom mosaic.

The Imperviousness Change (IMDC) 2018-2021 layer is part of the High Resolution Layer (HRL) Imperviousness. It contains the imperviousness change per pixel (increase or decrease in percentage) as derived from the difference between the Imperviousness Density (IMD) status layers for the reference years 2018 and 2021, in an aggregated version of 100m spatial resolution. The production of the HRL Imperviousness is coordinated by EEA in the frame of Copernicus, the Earth observation component of the European Union’s Space programme. The product is a raster dataset with 100-meter grid spacing (spatial resolution) that covers the 38 Eionet member and cooperating countries as well as the United Kingdom (i.e. EEA38+UK). It is distributed as 100 x 100 km tiles that are fully conformant with the EEA reference grid.

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.