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clms_vlcc_bare-soil-before_europe_10m_yearly_v1·dataset

How long fields stay bare before planting (Copernicus)

CLMS VLCC Bare Soil Before (CPBSB) Europe 10m yearly V1
biosphere ESA ESA Copernicus active
In plain English

What it measures. Measures the number of days a crop field is left bare before the main annual crop emerges, from 1 up to 295 days.

How it's made. ESA Copernicus produces it yearly at 10-metre resolution across the EEA-38 countries by detecting emergence and harvest events in satellite imagery.

How & where you'd use it. Informs policymakers about soil's exposure to erosion and leaching before planting, guiding soil-protection measures.

What's measured

CLMSCopernicusEuropeRasterLand coverCroplandBare SoilCPLand use

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2017-01-01 → ongoing
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90

What you can do with it

  • Map vegetation, forests and biomass
  • Monitor ecosystem productivity and carbon
  • Support habitat and biodiversity studies
Official description

The Bare Soil Before (CPBSB) dataset indicates the duration of the bare soil period before the emergence of the main annual crop, expressed in days (range: 1–295). The bare soil period is determined by the detection of emergence and harvest events within a given year. Since no specific bare soil detection algorithm is employed, there may be instances where the field is not completely bare during this period, due to weed growth, residual crop remnants, or agricultural activities such as fertilisation or ploughing. The bare soil period is defined only for the duration within the reference year. Information on bare soil periods is relevant for policy makers assessing soil susceptibility to leaching and erosion. This dataset is provided annually starting with 2017 in 10-metre rasters (fully conformant with the EEA reference grid) in 100 × 100 km tiles covering the EEA-38 countries. The HRL Bare Soil Before product is part of the European Union's Copernicus Land Monitoring Service. This dataset includes data from the French Overseas Territories (DOMs).

Get the data

copernicus_access.py
# ESA Copernicus Data Space — open STAC API (free account)
from pystac_client import Client

cat = Client.open("https://stac.dataspace.copernicus.eu/v1")
search = cat.search(
    collections=["clms_vlcc_bare-soil-before_europe_10m_yearly_v1"],   # add _cog or _nc for a format variant
    bbox=(-10, 35, 30, 60),             # your area (W,S,E,N)
    datetime="2024-01-01/2024-12-31",
)
items = list(search.items())            # then read assets with rioxarray / xarray
Browsing the Copernicus STAC is open; downloading bytes needs a free Copernicus Data Space account.