Product Copernicus Forest — Density, Type, Dominant Trees and Changes (every 3 years since 2012)

“Forest” products allow to visualise the spatial and temporal dynamics of treed spaces. Mapped tree surfaces are the crowns of trees seen from the sky. The product “Forest” provides layers of “Forest density”, “forest type” and “dominant tree type” every 3 years since 2012 and layers “Forest density change” and “Dominating tree type change” between 2 consecutive years. The product ‘Forest density’ translates into tree cover per unit area (pixel of 20 m by 20 m and 10 m by 10 m from 2018 onwards), expressed as a % (0 %: area without trees — 100 %: tree area). A threshold of 10 % is applied to represent treed areas. Two spatial resolutions are available: original resolution of 20 m until 2015 (10 m from 2018) and aggregate resolution of 100 m. The thematic accuracy is 90 %. The product “Forest density change” is expressed as a percentage increase (+ 30 % to + 100 %) or decrease (-30 % to -100 %) in forest density per pixel of 20 m x 20 m. A 30 % threshold is applied to differentiate “noise” from actual change and thus not overestimate tree cover losses or gains. Pixels with a density change between -30 % and + 30 % will be considered as unchanged. The product “Forest Type” provides forest mapping as defined by FAO. In contrast to the product ‘Forest density’, non-forest trees according to the FAO definition are excluded (trees planted for agricultural purposes such as fruit trees or olive groves, and urban gardens and parks are not considered forests). These include forest nurseries, seed orchards, forest roads, forests located in protected areas, forest plantations. The product ‘Type of dominant trees’ provides information on the dominant leaf type: hardwood or conifer, based on pixels of 20 m x 20 m until 2005, then 10 m x 10 m from 2018. The product “Dominating Tree Type Change” provides information on the gain and loss of tree cover and its associated leaf type between the 2015 and 2018 reference years in resolution 20 m. For displaying WMS streams, the product at 100 m is displayed at low zoom levels and the product at 10 or 20 m at high zoom levels. The product “Forest density” is provided by the “Territory” service of the European Earth Observation Programme Copernicus in raster format. This sheet gives you access to WMS feeds and data download links on the Copernicus website.