Harmonised fractional land cover time series for the Mediterranean region derived from ESA CCI LC and GLC_FCS30D

Overview This dataset provides harmonised annual fractional land cover representations derived from ESA Climate Change Initiative Land Cover (ESA CCI LC) and GLC_FCS30D for the Mediterranean area. The original categorical land cover legends were reclassified into ten broad, FAO LCCS-compatible classes, following the thematic harmonisation approach described by Bratic et al. (2023), and aggregated to a common 0.1-degree latitude-longitude grid. Each valid grid cell contains class-specific fractional cover values between zero and one, describing the mapped composition rather than a single dominant class. The datasets support cross-product comparisons of multi-temporal land cover composition. Fractions remain dependent on the accuracy and temporal characteristics of their original source products. Included files cci_reclass_lc_fractions_1992_2022.nc - ESA CCI LC-derived fractional land cover dataset (nominal coverage 1992-2022) glc_reclass_lc_fractions_1985_2022.nc - GLC_FCS30D-derived fractional land cover dataset (the source maps are annual from 2000 to 2022, with earlier maps in 1985, 1990 and 1995). GLANCE_LC_Fractions_User_Guide_v1.pdf - technical documentation including the complete thematic crosswalk. Data structure and methods NetCDF variables: `forest`, `shrubland`, `grassland`, `cropland`, `wetland`, `lichens_and_mosses`, `bareland`, `built_up`, `water`, `permanent_ice_and_snow`. Dimensions: `year`, `y`, `x`. Coordinate reference system: EPSG:4326. Nominal grid: 0.1 degrees; fractional values are dimensionless in [0, 1]. No-data source pixels are excluded from the valid-pixel denominator. For the full legend and reclassification rules, refer to the User Guide. Project context Developed within ESA GLANCE (AGricultural Land AbandoNment and ClimatE change) project, which investigates Mediterranean agricultural land abandonment and its interactions with forest dynamics and water, energy and carbon cycles. Project: https://climate.esa.int/en/Cross_ECV_Projects/glance. Source datasets and required attribution ESA CCI Land Cover / Copernicus Climate Data Store: https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.006f2c9a. The applicable ESA CCI LC source licence requires explicit credit to the ESA Climate Change Initiative Land Cover project. Licence text: https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/licences/satellite-land-cover GLC_FCS30D: Liu, L., Zhang, X., and Zhao, T. (2023), original Zenodo version v1, DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8239305. Licence: CC BY 4.0. Associated data description: Zhang et al. (2024), Earth System Science Data, DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1353-2024 Thematic harmonisation reference: Bratic, G., Oxoli, D., and Brovelli, M. A. (2023). Map of Land Cover Agreement: Ensambling Existing Datasets for Large-Scale Training Data Provision. Remote Sensing, 15(15), 3774. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15153774. Rights and re-use The GLC-derived component is subject to GLC_FCS30D CC BY 4.0 upstream attribution. The CCI-derived component is subject to the ESA CCI Land Cover licence, which explicitly allows educational/scientific use with attribution but does not explicitly establish unrestricted commercial redistribution.