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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 new version (version 2.0) of this dataset is based on a MSFD Region/Subregion boundary shapefile assembled in 2020 by ETC/ICM harmonised with the Coastline and European Seas layers. This dataset has been used to create the MPA buffer zones (version 2) and to show the percentage of marine protected area (MPA) coverage in Europe's regional seas.
The dataset consists of a collection of annual soil moisture (SM) anomalies during the vegetation growing season (GS) for the years 2000-2019 across EEA 38 area and the United Kingdom. The vegetation growing season is defined by EEA´s phenology data series "Vegetation growing season length 2000-2016" [https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/data/annual-above-ground-vegetation-season]. The anomalies are calculated based on the European Commission's Joint Research Centre European Drought Observatory (EDO) Soil Moisture Index (SMI) with respect to the 1995–2019 base period. The yearly start and end of GS periods are dynamic and calculated according to the EEA Phenology Indicators. A positive anomaly indicates that the observed SM was wetter than the long-term SM average for the base period, while a negative anomaly indicates that the observed SM was drier than the reference value. Because SM anomalies are measured in units of standard deviation from the long-term SMI average, they can be used to compare annual deficits/surplus of SM between geographic regions. EDO is one of the early warning and monitoring systems of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service. As the dataset builds on EDO's SMI, it therefore contains modified Copernicus Emergency Management Service information (2019).
This database contains a number of climate change mitigation policies and measures (PaM) implemented or planned by European countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Most of these PaMs have been reported to the European Commission, the United Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) or the EEA.
All Member States are requested by the Birds Directive to monitor bird species and send a report every 6 years following an agreed format. This information 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. In addition, population status and trends are assessed at the EU level.
All Member States are requested by the Habitats Directive to monitor habitat types and species listed in its annexes and send a report every 6 years following an agreed format. The assessment of conservation status is based on information about the status and trends of species populations and of habitats at the level of the biogeographical or marine region.
The pan-European High-Resolution Snow & Ice products (HR-S&I) are provided at high spatial resolution (20 m x 20 m), and are derived from the Sentinel-2 constellation data (Sentinel-2A and Sentinel-2B: revisit time 5 of days). They are generated over the entire EEA38 +UK from September 1, 2016 onwards.
The MESH+ tool builds on the EEA assessment tools developed and applied in the context of assessing the degree of contamination (CHASE+), eutrophication (HEAT+) and biodiversity (BEAT+) in Europe's seas (EEA, 2018a, 2019c; Vaughan et al., 2019). MESH+ makes use of the same data sets and threshold values used in these assessments but recombines these in a new framework that addresses 'ecosystem condition'.
The BEAT+ tool builds on the EEA assessment tools developed and applied in the context of assessing the degree of contamination (CHASE+), eutrophication (HEAT+) and biodiversity (BEAT+) in Europe's seas. BEAT+ makes use of the same data sets and threshold values used in these assessments but recombines these in a new framework that addresses 'biodiversity condition'.
The potential combined effects of human activities and pressures on marine species and habitats were estimated using the method for assessment of cumulative effects, for the entire suite of pressures and a selected set of marine species groups and habitats by an index (Halpern et al. 2008). The spatial assessment of combined effects of multiple pressures informs of the risks of human activities on the marine ecosystem health.
The HRL Small Woody Features (SWF) is a new CLMS product, which provides harmonized information on linear structures such as hedgerows, as well as patches (200 m² ≤ area ≤ 5000 m²) of woody features across the EEA39 countries.
The Water Framework Directive (WFD) reference spatial data sets include information about European river basin districts, river basin district sub-units, surface water bodies, groundwater bodies and monitoring sites used in the first and second River Basin Management Plans (RBMP). The data sets are part of the Water Information System for Europe (WISE), and compile information reported by the EU Member States, Norway, Iceland and the United Kingdom to the European Commission (EC) and the European Environment Agency (EEA) since 2010.
The raster datasets describe land cover flows between 2000-2018, 2000-2006, 2006-2012 and 2012-2018 for the EEA39 region. Land Cover Flows summarize and interpret the 44x43=1892 possible one-to-one changes between the 44 CORINE land cover classes. The changes are grouped to so called flows of land cover and are classified according to major land use processes. The nomenclature of flows is organized on 3 hierarchical levels. See lineage on the nomenclature. The classification of land cover flows results from the feasibility studies and subsequent revisions after discussion with experts in agri-environment and forestry. Basically, the classification of land cover flows distinguishes change between broad land cover classes and changes internal to these classes. Analysis of land cover flows supplies a rapid vision of land use change processes taking place and they shed light on the drivers of various land use change processes such as e.g. urbanization.
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).
The quietness suitability index (QSI) provides the overview with the highest (QSI=1) and lowest (QSI=0) proportion of potential quiet areas in Europe.
Electricity generation gives rise to negative impacts on the environment and human health throughout all stages of its life-cycle. To date, power generation remains the largest GHG-emitting sector in Europe. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is by far the most commonly-emitted GHG across the sector, being a product of combustion processes. An almost complete decarbonisation of the EU’s electricity sector is needed in order to meet the EU’s objective of becoming the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050. Electricity can play an increasing role in decarbonising energy use across a number of sectors, such as transport, industry and households. Information about the carbon intensity of electricity generation is therefore relevant for many stakeholders. The EEA and its European Topic Centre for Climate Change Mitigation and Energy (ETC/CME) produce each year country- and EU-level data on the average annual CO2 emission intensity of electricity generation.
The EEA potential flood prone area extent delineates the area that is flooded once every 100 years, i.e. the probability of flooding is 1% assuming that flooding is unrestricted. The potential flood prone area is comprised of the river channel and floodplain. In reality, the floodplain is split into an active floodplain where flooding still occurs, and former floodplain where flooding is restricted due to flood protection. The former floodplain could be flooded again either if a flood exceeds the capacity of flood protection, or if factors that control the presence of water were removed. These factors include channel and floodplain morphological alterations as well as structural flood protection measures. The spatial coverage of the data set is EEA39 countries.
HEAT+ classification: The HELCOM Eutrophication Assessment Tool (Developed for the pan-European assessment)
The raster files are the time series of the start of the vegetation growing season (day of the year) and the derived linear trends (in day / year). The start of the growing season time-series is based on the time series of the Plant Phenology Index (PPI) derived from the MODIS BRDF-Adjusted Reflectance product (MODIS MCD43 NBAR). The PPI index is optimized for efficient monitoring of vegetation phenology and is derived from the source MODIS data using radiative transfer solutions applied to the reflectance in visible-red and near infrared spectral domains. The start of season indicator is based on calculating the start of the vegetation growing season from the annual PPI temporal curve using the TIMESAT software for each year between and including 2000 and 2016.
The Water Accounts Spatial Units dataset is an extraction of the European catchments and Rivers network system (ECRINS), aggregation catchments and reference layers - version 1, Jun. 2012. It contains 117 river basins extracted from the ECRINS functional river basin districts (EcrAgg). The Ecrins river basin districts are delineated according to the hydrological thresholds and do not necessarily follow administrative boundaries. The main purpose of the data set is to display the EEA water accounts outputs at the river basin level.
The WISE Water Accounts database contains monthly water accounts for the years 1990-2015 for 117 European river basins extracted from the ECRINS functional river basin districts. The water accounts data can be downloaded in two different formats: a spreadsheet that contains each accounting variable in a separate worksheet, and a database that contains all the variables of the asset and flow accounts to facilitate an integrated analysis. The WISE Water Accounts Spatial Units can also be downloaded from the EEA web site. Extensive clarifications on the development of the European water accounts can be found in the following reports published by the European Commission (DG ENV): "Guidance document on the application of water balances for supporting the implementation of the Water Framework Directive" (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/blueprint/balances.htm) and "Water ecosystem accounts reports" (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/blueprint/balances.htm)
For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/data or scan the QR code.
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