Harmonized imperviousness layer 2012 (raster 1km), Feb. 2024

This metadata describes the Harmonized Imperviousness raster dataset for the year 2012. This raster dataset is part of the harmonized and bias-corrected soil sealing time series for Europe produced by the EEA for the observation period (2006-2018) based on the Copernicus Imperviousness Degree (IMD) layers. The 2018 Imperviousness Degree (IMD) layer of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS) was produced on a 10m spatial resolution taking advantage of the availability of Sentinel 2 data, whereas earlier layers are provided on 20m resolution. The 20m resolution IMD time-series (2006-2009-2012-2015) was harmonized by the CLMS and have shown a credible evolution in sealed cover. The upgrade from 20m to 10m spatial resolution however resulted in a break in the IMD based areal statistics. The harmonized imperviousness time series layers combine visual interpretation and modelling with the original CLMS Imperviousness Density layers and the CLMS CLC+ Backbone raster layer to overcome the above mentioned resolution change and to provide a harmonized time series for the monitoring of the evolution of soil sealing.