dataset · Global
Land cover classification gridded maps from 1992 to present derived from satellite observations
This dataset provides global maps describing the land surface into 22 classes, which have been defined using the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s (UN FAO) Land Cover Classification System (LCCS). In addition to the land cover (LC) maps, four quality flags are produced to document the reliability of the classification and change detection. In order to ensure continuity, these land cover maps are consistent with the series of global annual LC maps from the 1990s to 2015 produced
Visit source ↗Source details
Licence: other
Evidence quality: 43.4
Listed in cds public catalogue API on 2026-10-16; relevance/value screened (haiku).
Metadata checked: 2026-10-14T13:20:00.000Z
What's in it
- Data offered docs-verified
- Land cover class (22 LCCS classes) · Change count · Current pixel state · Observation count · Processed flag · Four quality flags
- Coverage docs-verified
- Global · 1992 to present
- Resolution docs-verified
- 300 m horizontal; yearly temporal
- Update frequency docs-verified
- Yearly
- Formats docs-verified
- NetCDF-4
- Access llm-inferred
- Free under CC-BY (ESA CCI and VITO licences per docs); Copernicus Climate Data Store login/registration shown on portal
Useful for
- Use cases llm-inferred
- Land-cover baseline context for UK habitat and BNG assessments at regional scale · Catchment land-cover change screening for runoff and drainage assumptions · Multi-decade land-use change evidence for planning and land accounting reports
- Audience llm-inferred
- hydrologists · ecologists · GIS analysts · planners · drainage engineers
Limitations
- Constraints llm-inferred
- 300 m grid is coarse for site-scale UK work · Global product, not tuned to UK land cover classes · Uncertainty and some QA checks are marked 'QA Not Passed' on the portal · Processing split across versions 2.0.7 (1992-2015) and 2.1.1 (2016 onward) · Requires Copernicus CDS account to download
Evidence
- https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/api/catalogue/v1/collections/satellite-land-cover
- https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/datasets/satellite-land-cover
Check upstream coverage, uncertainty and licence before use. Station observations are not forecasts or design levels.