The Copernicus High Resolution Water and Wetness (WAW) 2018 layer is a thematic product showing the occurrence of water and wet surfaces over the period from 2012 to 2018 for the EEA38 area and the United Kingdom. Two products are available: - The main Water and Wetness (WAW) product, with defined classes of (1) permanent water, (2) temporary water, (3) permanent wetness and (4) temporary wetness. - The additional expert product: Water and Wetness Probability Index (WWPI). The products show the occurrence of water and indicate the degree of wetness in a physical sense, assessed independently of the actual vegetation cover and are thus not limited to a specific land cover class and their relative frequencies. The production of the High Resolution Water and Wetness layers was coordinated by the European Environment Agency (EEA) in the frame of the EU Copernicus programme. The dataset is provided as 10 meter rasters in 100 x 100 km tiles grouped according to the EEA38 countries and the United Kingdom (fully conformant with the EEA reference grid).

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 HRL Forest 2018 primary status layer Dominant Leaf Type (DLT). The DLT raster product provides a basic land cover classification with 3 thematic classes (all non-tree covered areas, broadleaved and coniferous) at 10m spatial resolution and covers the full of EEA38 area and the United Kingdom. The production of the High Resolution Forest layers was coordinated by the European Environment Agency (EEA) in the frame of the EU Copernicus programme. The HRL Forest product consists of 3 types of (status) products and additional change products. The status products are available for 2012, 2015, and 2018 reference years: 1. Tree cover density (TCD) (level of tree cover density in a range from 0-100%) 2. Dominant leaf type (DLT) (broadleaved or coniferous majority) 3. Forest type product (FTY). The forest type product allows to get as close as possible to the FAO forest definition. In its original (10m (2018) / 20m (2012, 2015)) resolution it consists of two products: 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 (now only available on demand), based on the dominant leaf type product, trees under agricultural use and in urban context (derived from CLC and imperviousness 2009 data). For the final 100 m product trees under agricultural use and urban context from the support layer are removed. NEW for 2018: the 10m 2018 reference year FTY product now also has the agricultural/urban trees removed. In the past this was done only for the 100m product, now it is consistently applied for both the 10m and the 100m FTY products. This 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 countries and the United Kingdom.

The combined Water and Wetness (WAW) product is a thematic product showing the occurrence of water and wet surfaces over the period from 2012 to 2018 for the EEA38 area and the United Kingdom. Two products are available: - The main Water and Wetness (WAW) product, with defined classes of (1) permanent water, (2) temporary water, (3) permanent wetness and (4) temporary wetness. - The additional expert product: Water and Wetness Probability Index (WWPI). The products show the occurrence of water and indicate the degree of wetness in a physical sense, assessed independently of the actual vegetation cover and are thus not limited to a specific land cover class and their relative frequencies. The production of the High Resolution Water and Wetness layers was coordinated by the European Environment Agency (EEA) in the frame of the EU Copernicus programme. The dataset is provided as 10 meter rasters in 100 x 100 km tiles grouped according to the EEA38 countries and the United Kingdom (fully conformant with the EEA reference grid).

This metadata refers to the HRL Forest 2018 primary status layer Tree Cover Density (TCD). The TCD raster product provides information on the proportional crown coverage per pixel at 10m spatial resolution and ranges from 0% (all non-tree covered areas) to 100%, whereby Tree Cover Density is defined as the "vertical projection of tree crowns to a horizontal earth’s surface“. The production of the High Resolution Forest layers was coordinated by the European Environment Agency (EEA) in the frame of the EU Copernicus programme. The HRL Forest product consists of 3 types of (status) products and additional change products. The status products are available for 2012, 2015, and 2018 reference years: 1. Tree cover density (TCD) (level of tree cover density in a range from 0-100%) 2. Dominant leaf type (DLT) (broadleaved or coniferous majority) 3. Forest type product (FTY). The forest type product allows to get as close as possible to the FAO forest definition. In its original (10m (2018) / 20m (2012, 2015)) resolution it consists of two products: 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 (now only available on demand), based on the dominant leaf type product, trees under agricultural use and in urban context (derived from CLC and imperviousness 2009 data). For the final 100 m product trees under agricultural use and urban context from the support layer are removed. NEW for 2018: the 10m 2018 reference year FTY product now also has the agricultural/urban trees removed. In the past this was done only for the 100m product, now it is consistently applied for both the 10m and the 100m FTY products. This 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 countries and the United Kingdom.

The High Resolution Layer (HRL) Grassland 2018 raster product provides a basic land cover classification with 2 thematic classes (grassland / non-grassland) at 10m spatial resolution, covering the EEA38 area and the United Kingdom. The production of the High Resolution grassland layers was coordinated by the European Environment Agency (EEA) in the frame of the EU Copernicus programme. This is the main High Resolution grassland product. 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 dataset for this product is provided as 10 meter rasters in 100 x 100 km tiles (fully conformant with EEA reference grid) grouped according to the EEA38 countries and the United Kingdom.

The Urban Atlas provides pan-European comparable land use and land cover data for Functional Urban Areas (FUA). The Urban Atlas Change layers have become available from 2012 and only for all FUAs that have been covered in both 2006 and 2012 reference years. Urban Atlas is a joint initiative of the European Commission Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy and the Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry in the frame of the EU Copernicus programme, with the support of the European Space Agency and the European Environment Agency.

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. Green Linear Elements (GLE) are ecologically significant, structural landscape elements which act as important dispersion vectors of biodiversity. GLEs comprise hedgerows and lines of trees and offer a wide range of ecosystem services: they are linked to both landscape richness and fragmentation of habitats, with a direct potential for restoration, and contribute also to hazard protection. Green linear elements form part of the Green Infrastructure and are specifically addressed in the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2020. The GLE product provides reliable and detailed geospatial information on the occurrence and spatial distribution of: Small linear vegetation features such as hedgerows, scrub and tree rows with a minimum length of 100m and a width of up to 10m; Isolated patches of trees and scrub with a size between 500 m² and 0.5 ha. Green linear elements including trees and hedgerows with 100m minimum length and 500 m² Minimum Mapping Unit (MMU). The production of the Riparian Zones products was coordinated by the European Environment Agency in the frame of the EU Copernicus programme.

The European Urban Atlas provides reliable, inter-comparable, high-resolution land use maps for 305 Large Urban Zones and their surroundings (more than 100.000 inhabitants as defined by the Urban Audit) for the reference year 2006 in EU member states. The GIS data can be downloaded together with a map for each covered urban area and a report with the metadata for the respective area. Additional information (product description, mapping guidance and class description) can be found at https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/data/urban-atlas/#tab-methodology. Urban Atlas is a joint initiative of the European Commission Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy and the Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry 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.