Data Visualization
25 Mar 2020
Data Visualization
25 Mar 2020
Indicator Assessment
25 Mar 2020
For the reference year 2015 , 85 861 km 2 of the total area covered by the EEA-39 countries were mapped and categorised as 'sealed surface' in the Copernicus imperviousness product. This corresponds to 1.466 % of the total EEA-39 area.
Between 2006 and 2015, soil sealing (imperviousness) in all EEA-39 countries increased by a total of 3 859 km2 , an annual average increase of 429 km 2 . During this period, the average annual increase in soil sealing relative to country area varied from 0 % to 0.088 %.
In 2015, the percentage of a countries' total area that was sealed also varied greatly, with values ranging from 16.17 % (Malta) to 0.07 % (Iceland). The highest sealing values, as a percentage of country area, occurred in small countries with high population densities, while the lowest sealing values can be found in large countries with low population densities.
The average annual increase in sealing was 460 km 2 between 2006-2009, increasing to 492 km 2 for the 2009-2012 period and slowing to 334 km 2 for the 2012-2015 period. The slow-down in the sealing increase between the two reference periods occurred in 31 out of 39 countries. The same trend is visible for sealing figures normalised by the size of the country (the % of the country newly sealed on average annually for the three periods).
The most problematic situation occurs in countries where there is already a high percentage of sealing and where the annual rate of increase relative to country area is high. Even more problematic are situations where, for 2012-2015, the rate of sealing increase is accelerating, in contrast to the general trend of a slowing rate of increase.
The map shows the percentage of the average annual change in soil sealing for each of the rectangular 10 km x 10 km grid cells, over the 2006-2015 period
The map shows the density of soil sealing in 2012, based on a 10 km2 reference grid. Green and light orange colors show areas with no or very limited sealing, while red and dark red colors show highly to fully sealed grid cells (mainly urban areas).
The WISE Water Framework Directive database contains data from the 1st and 2nd River Basin Management Plans reported by EU Members States, Norway and the United Kingdom according to article 13 of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). The database includes information about surface water bodies (number and size, water body category, ecological status or potential, chemical status, significant pressures and impacts, and exemptions) and about groundwater bodies (number and size, quantitative status, chemical status, significant pressures and impacts, and exemptions). The information is presented by country, river basin district (RBD) and river basin district sub-unit (where applicable).
Indicator Assessment
23 Mar 2020
Drought is a recurrent feature of the European climate that affects considerable fractions of the European population each year.
The frequency and severity of meteorological and hydrological droughts have increased in most parts of Europe. Different drought indices agree that the increase is greatest in southern Europe.
Available studies project further increases in the frequency, duration and severity of meteorological and hydrological droughts for most of Europe during the 21st century, except for parts of central-eastern and north-eastern Europe. The greatest increase in drought conditions is projected for southern Europe where it will increase competition between different water users, such as agriculture, industry, tourism and households.
The quietness suitability index (QSI) provides the overview with the highest (QSI=1) and lowest (QSI=0) proportion of potential quiet areas in Europe.
GIS Map Application
03 Mar 2020
Change of vegetation productivity during the years 2000-2016. Vegetation productivity was calculated for each 500m grid cell from a remote sensing derived vegetation index (PPI). The layer shows the changes expressed in % of 2000 calculated from the fitted line of the linear trend model.
The chart shows the vegetation productivity changes (%) over areas with land use change in the period 2000-2018. The values are broken down by major land use change drivers.
The chart shows the effect of frost frequency variations on vegetation productivity, expressed in standard deviation units of vegetation productivity.
GIS Map Application
13 Feb 2020
These maps present a story about how Europe might be affected by key climate hazards such as droughts, floods, forest fires and sea level rise during the 21st century and beyond. These maps are based on different greenhouse gas emissions scenarios and climate models and have been published already in various EEA reports and indicators.
Many global policy frameworks, including the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),directly and indirectly address land and soil. Many of these SGDs cannot be achieved without healthysoils and a sustainable land use. Below is an overview of the SDGs with strong links to soil.
