This metadata refers to the CORINE Land Cover Plus Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry Instance (CLCplus LULUCF Instance), an annually updated, pan-European, spatially consistent and seamless geospatial proxy for land use reporting under the LULUCF regulation. The product is delivered as a single raster layer with a spatial resolution of 100 m, derived from multiple pan-European Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS) high resolution input datasets. The LULUCF Instance is available for the reference years 2018, 2021, 2022 and 2023, with production moving to an annual update cycle starting from the 2021 product. Each raster cell represents a dominant LULUCF land-use class, assigned according to thematic and spatial rulesets implemented during the extraction process. While each pixel corresponds primarily to one of the six main LULUCF land use categories - forest land, grassland, cropland, settlements, wetlands, and other lands - the dataset further differentiates these categories into sub classes, resulting in a total of 27 classes. This classification structure supports greenhouse gas reporting and other applications within the LULUCF sector by providing a harmonised and policy relevant representation of land use across Europe. It is crucial to understand that this product is fundamentally different from other CLMS products, as it is not based directly on satellite image classification or visual interpretation. Instead, it is produced through the combination and integration of existing CLMS data layers. Consequently, the dataset does not introduce fundamentally new information; rather, its novelty lies in the expert driven integration of multiple sources to produce a LULUCF oriented land use representation.

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 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 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 Share of Built-Up (SBU) 2021 is part of the High Resolution Layer (HRL) Imperviousness and contains the share (percentage) of built-up per pixel for the reference year 2021 as derived from a pixel aggregation of the binary Impervious Built-Up (IBU) 2021 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.

Small Woody 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. Optical VHR coverage over Europe 2021 was made available in the ESA Copernicus DWH and, together with Sentinel 2 was the main data source for the detection of small woody features identifiable within the given image resolution. The Small Woody Features Density 2021 with a 100m pixel resolution is derived from a pixel aggregation of the binary Small Woody Features 2021 (10m) status layer. The production of the HRL Small Landscape Features 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), distributed as a single raster file with European extent.

The High Resolution Layer Imperviousness Change (IMC) 2015-2018 is a raster dataset showing change in imperviousness between 2015 and 2018 reference years, produced in the frame of the EU Copernicus programme. This metadata refers to the derived product 100 meter aggregated raster (fully conformant with EEA reference grid) provided as a full mosaic of the EEA38 countries and the United Kingdom. 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.

Corine Land Cover 2012 (CLC2012) is one of the Corine Land Cover (CLC) datasets produced within the frame the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service referring to land cover / land use status of year 2012. CLC service has a long-time heritage (formerly known as "CORINE Land Cover Programme"), coordinated by the European Environment Agency (EEA). It provides consistent and thematically detailed information on land cover and land cover changes across Europe. CLC datasets are based on the classification of satellite images produced by the national teams of the participating countries - the EEA members and cooperating countries (EEA39). National CLC inventories are then further integrated into a seamless land cover map of Europe. The resulting European database relies on standard methodology and nomenclature with following base parameters: 44 classes in the hierarchical 3-level CLC nomenclature; minimum mapping unit (MMU) for status layers is 25 hectares; minimum width of linear elements is 100 metres. Change layers have higher resolution, i.e. minimum mapping unit (MMU) is 5 hectares for Land Cover Changes (LCC), and the minimum width of linear elements is 100 metres. The CLC service delivers important data sets supporting the implementation of key priority areas of the Environment Action Programmes of the European Union as e.g. protecting ecosystems, halting the loss of biological diversity, tracking the impacts of climate change, monitoring urban land take, assessing developments in agriculture or dealing with water resources directives. part of the European Copernicus Programme coordinated by the European Environment Agency, providing environmental information from a combination of air- and space-based observation systems and in-situ monitoring.

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 high resolution forest product consists of three types of (status) products and additional change products. The status products are available for the 2012 and 2015 reference years: 1. Tree cover density providing level of tree cover density in a range from 0-100%; 2. Dominant leaf type providing information on the dominant leaf type: broadleaved or coniferous; 3. A Forest type product. The forest type product allows to get as close as possible to the FAO forest definition. In its original (20m) resolution it consists of two products: 1) a dominant leaf type product that has a MMU of 0.5 ha, as well as a 10% tree cover density threshold applied, and 2) a support layer that maps, based on the dominant leaf type product, trees under agricultural use and in urban context (derived from CLC and high resolution imperviousness 2009 data). For the final 100m product trees under agricultural use and urban context from the support layer are removed. The high resolution forest change products comprise a simple tree cover density change product for 2012-2015 (% increase or decrease of real tree cover density changes). The production of the high resolution forest layers was coordinated by the European Environment Agency (EEA) in the frame of the EU Copernicus programme.