Database of forest disturbance reference samples for Central Europe

This repository contains a database of forest disturbance reference samples for Central Europe, covering the period 1984–2024. The dataset includes 13,000 plots across 13 countries, with 1,000 sample locations per country, equally split between disturbed (50%) and undisturbed (50%) areas, stratified using disturbance maps from the European Forest Disturbance Atlas (EFDA) (Viana-Soto & Senf 2025). Samples were interpreted using the EO Time Series Viewer v2.1 (Jakimow et al. 2020), Landsat image chips from EFDA, and available high-resolution imagery. Each sample provides annual information on disturbance occurrence, including the year a disturbance starts and ends. In cases where multiple disturbances occurred at the same location over the observation period, all events are included in the database. Jakimow, B., van der Linden, S., Thiel, F., Frantz, D., & Hostert, P. (2020). Visualizing and labeling dense multi-sensor earth observation time series: The EO Time Series Viewer. Environmental Modelling & Software, 125, 104631. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2020.104631 Viana-Soto, A., & Senf, C. (2025). The European Forest Disturbance Atlas: a forest disturbance monitoring system using the Landsat archive. Earth System Science Data, 17(6), 2373–2404. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2373-2025