The spatial extent of the MPA assessment areas was defined as the marine waters surrounding the EU countries whose outer limit is defined by the 200 NM boundary from the coast (possibly coinciding with formally recognised EEZ boundaries) or the equidistance (in cases of opposite neighbouring EU countries), or by the presence of a boundary defined by an agreed treaty. Given no formal boundary of this map exists and since this limit coincides with the boundary of the maritime area (water column) submitted by EU Member States under MSFD, this dataset was based on a MSFD Region/Subregion boundary shapefile assembled in 2013 by ETC/ICM integrated with the Maritime Boundaries (version 7) from the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ). This dataset has been used to create the map that shows the percentage marine protected area (MPA) coverage in Europe's regional seas and also the distance to the Convention on Biological Diversity Aichi target 11.

This raster dataset represents the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) anomalies, i.e. changes of sea temperatures, in the European Seas. The dataset is based on the map "Mean annual sea surface temperature trend in European seas" by Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), which depicts the linear trend in sea surface temperature (in °C/yr) for the European seas over the past 25 years (1989-2013). Since all changes of sea temperatures can be considered to have an impact on the marine environment, the pressure layer includes absolute values of SST anomalies, i.e. negative/decreasing temperature trends were changed to positive values so that they represent a pressure. The original data was in a 1° grid format but was converted to a 100 km resolution, adapted to the EEA 10 km grid and clipped with the area of interest. This dataset has been prepared for the calculation of the combined effect index, produced for the ETC/ICM Report 4/2019 "Multiple pressures and their combined effects in Europe's seas" available on: https://www.eionet.europa.eu/etcs/etc-icm/etc-icm-report-4-2019-multiple-pressures-and-their-combined-effects-in-europes-seas-1.

This raster dataset represents input of impulsive anthropogenic sound in Europe Seas. Impulsive sounds are typically brief with a rapid rise time, i.e. a great change in amplitude over a short period of time. The main anthropogenic sources of impulsive underwater noise are typically impact pile driving for inshore and offshore construction, seismic exploration with airguns, explosions and sonar systems. The dataset was created by combining pulse-block-days (PBD) data from the ICES Registry (for HELCOM and OSPAR areas) and ACCOMBAS (for the Mediterranean Sea), resampled using the EEA 10 km grid. The dataset does not include the Black Sea. The temporal reference of this dataset is the period 2014-2016. The cell values have been transformed into a logarithmic scale (log10). This dataset has been prepared for the calculation of the combined effect index, produced for the ETC/ICM Report 4/2019 "Multiple pressures and their combined effects in Europe's seas" available on: https://www.eionet.europa.eu/etcs/etc-icm/etc-icm-report-4-2019-multiple-pressures-and-their-combined-effects-in-europes-seas-1.

The dataset represents the introduction of non-indigenous species in European seas. Non-indigenous species are species that have been spread as a result of human activities to areas where they do not belong naturally. The main concern are the invasive species, which are defined as causing a significant negative impact on biodiversity as well as serious economic and social consequences. The dataset has been prepared first by individually mapping each aquatic invasive species that had a distinctive distribution area, which had been provided by several non-indigenous species online databases. The distribution of the species were then resampled into the EEA 10 km grid and summed together, showing the number of non-indigenous species per grid cell. The temporal reference of the dataset covers the last 30 years (1989 - 2018). This dataset has been prepared for the calculation of the combined effect index, produced for the ETC/ICM Report 4/2019 "Multiple pressures and their combined effects in Europe's seas" available on: https://www.eionet.europa.eu/etcs/etc-icm/etc-icm-report-4-2019-multiple-pressures-and-their-combined-effects-in-europes-seas-1.

The raster dataset represents fishing intensity (kilowatt per fishing hour) by pelagic towed gears in the European seas. The dataset has been derived from Automatic Identification System (AIS) based pelagic fishing intensity data received from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre - Independent experts of the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (JRC STECF), as well as from Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) and logbook based pelagic fishing effort data from HELCOM Commission. The temporal extent varies between the data sources (between 2013 and 2015). The dataset has been transformed to a logarithmic scale (ln1). This dataset has been prepared for the calculation of the combined effect index, produced for the ETC/ICM Report 4/2019 "Multiple pressures and their combined effects in Europe's seas" available on: https://www.eionet.europa.eu/etcs/etc-icm/etc-icm-report-4-2019-multiple-pressures-and-their-combined-effects-in-europes-seas-1.

Gridded Distribution of Species as reported during the Article 12 of the Birds Directive (2009/147/EC) covering the period 2008 to 2012. The data covers the EU 27(2007-2013, prior to the accession of Croatia to the EU), including the delayed data delivery from Greece. The dataset contains a support version of tabular data as reported by Member States, targeted for the assessment of bird population status at the European level for the 2008-2012 reporting period. This includes population sizes and trends (short and long term) for breeding and wintering populations, as well as pressures and threats for Special Protection Area trigger species. This metadata refers to the public dataset, without sensitive species. NOTE: The spatial dataset has been revised in 2021 as some errores had been found in the original Shapefile. The revision includes also delayed deliveries (Greece).

This raster dataset provides the estimation of the extracted tonnes of fish by commercial fishing per 10 km grid cell in the European seas. The dataset has been derived from the combination of demersal and pelagic fishing data, together with fish landings data (2011-2016) from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre - Independent experts of the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (JRC STECF). The temporal extent varies between the data sources. The cell values have been transformed to a logarithmic scale (ln1). This dataset has been prepared for the calculation of the combined effect index, produced for the ETC/ICM Report 4/2019 "Multiple pressures and their combined effects in Europe's seas" available on: https://www.eionet.europa.eu/etcs/etc-icm/etc-icm-report-4-2019-multiple-pressures-and-their-combined-effects-in-europes-seas-1.

This dataset presents the resulting assessment grid (based on the EEA reference grid) with the classification of chemical status of the transitional, coastal and marine waters in the context of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). This classification has been performed using the CHASE+ tool, with classifications of the matrices ‘water’, ‘sediment’ and ‘biota’ and indicators of ‘biological effects’, as well as an integrated classification of chemical status, combining results of all matrices. The chemical status is evaluated in five classes, where NPAhigh and NPAgood are recognised as ‘non-problem areas’ and PAmoderate, PApoor and PAbad are recognised as ‘problem areas’. This is the assessment made excluding concentrations of mercury (Hg) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) The overall area of interest used is based on the marine regions and subregions under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Additionally, Norwegian (Barent Sea and Norwegian Sea) and Icelandic waters (’Iceland Sea’) have been added (see Surrounding seas of Europe). Note that within the North East Atlantic region only the subregions within EEZ boundaries (~200 nm) have been included. This dataset underpins the findings and cartographic representations published in the report "Contaminants in Europe's Seas" (EEA, 2019).

This raster dataset represents the input of continuous anthropogenic sound in the European Seas. Continuous anthropogenic underwater noise is found in the entire European marine area and is mainly produced by maritime traffic. As no thresholds for pressure have been agreed yet, even areas of low or infrequent maritime traffic are included as pressures. This dataset uses shipping density as a representation of distribution of continuous underwater noise. This dataset is based on a truncated version of the EMODnet (Automatic Identification System) AIS based vessel density dataset for 2017 (all ships, year average). The vessel density was rescaled from a 1 km to 10 km resolution (mean values) using the EEA 10 km grid. The dataset has been transformed to a logarithmic scale (ln1). This dataset has been prepared for the calculation of the combined effect index, produced for the ETC/ICM Report 4/2019 "Multiple pressures and their combined effects in Europe's seas" available on: https://www.eionet.europa.eu/etcs/etc-icm/etc-icm-report-4-2019-multiple-pressures-and-their-combined-effects-in-europes-seas-1.

The present dataset includes three buffer zones used to calculate statistics on Marine Protected Areas coverage in EU's marine waters. The three buffer zones layers correspond to "Near shore MSFD Region/Subregion boundary zone (0-1 nautical miles)", "Territorial MSFD Region/Subregion boundary zone (1-12 nautical miles)" and "Offshore MSFD Region/Subregion boundary zone (beyond 12 nautical miles to the edge of EU waters)". The dataset is based on the "Marine protected assessment areas" created in the context of the work published in the EEA Briefing No 13/2018 "Designed to conserve Europe's marine life, marine protected areas are a globally recognised tool for managing and enhancing our marine ecosystems", available on https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/marine-protected-areas.