Earth Data School
About
Full catalog/clms_vlcc_dominant-leaf-type-change_europe_20m_3yearly_v1
clms_vlcc_dominant-leaf-type-change_europe_20m_3yearly_v1·dataset

Map of where Europe's broadleaf and conifer forests shifted (Copernicus)

CLMS VLCC Dominant Leaf Type Change (DLTC) Europe 20m 3-yearly V1
biosphere ESA ESA Copernicus active
In plain English

What it measures. Shows how tree cover across Europe changed between two reference years, sorted into seven categories such as new broadleaved growth, new conifers, loss of either type, or a switch from one dominant tree type to the other. Areas that stayed the same, with or without trees, are marked too.

How it's made. Built from satellite imagery by the EU's Copernicus Land Monitoring Service as a 20-metre grid laid over Europe's 38-country reference area, including French overseas territories.

How & where you'd use it. Helps foresters, conservationists, and researchers track deforestation, regrowth, and species shifts in forests over time, and supports national reporting on woodland health.

What's measured

CLMSCopernicusEuropeRasterLand coverLand useDominant Leaf TypeDLTForestTree cover

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2018-01-01 → 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 High Resolution Layer Dominant Leaf Type Change (DLTC) dataset provides information on the change between the reference years and consists of 7 thematic classes (unchanged areas with no tree cover / new broadleaved cover / new coniferous cover / loss of broadleaved cover / loss of coniferous cover / unchanged areas with tree cover / potential change among dominant leaf types). This dataset is provided in 20 meter rasters (fully conformant with the EEA reference grid) in 100 x 100 km tiles covering the EEA38 countries. High Resolution Layer Tree Cover and Forest 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_dominant-leaf-type-change_europe_20m_3yearly_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.