HRLandCoverCCI

In the context of ESA Climate Change Initiative, the “High Resolution (HR) Land Cover (LC) Essential Climate Variable (ECV)” involves the accurate description and analysis of land cover (LC) and LC change (LCC) using Earth Observation (EO) data with high spatial resolution (10-30m). Indeed, LC has a key role on surface energy, water and carbon fluxes variables. Moreover, LCC has an impact on radiative (albedo), aerodynamic, evaporative properties, carbon storage with different effects on surface temperature and precipitation. These factors have been taken into account by the climate modelling community to properly model Earth climate at a global scale using medium resolution EO data (i.e., 300m).

However, improvement of sensor technology achieved during the last decade makes EO data with high spatial resolution available. For these reasons, HR_LandCover_cci will produce LC and LCC maps with high spatial resolution and investigate their impact and the crucial role of spatial resolution on Climate models at regional scale. 

In summary, the primary objective of HR_LandCover_cci is to study and investigate the role of the spatial resolution of LC and LCC in supporting climate modelling research at regional scale. HR_LandCover_cci aims at improving the understanding of the interaction between climate and land cover while increasing the spatial resolution of 1 order of magnitude (from 300m to 10-30m) with respect to the LandCover_cci.

The project will focus primarily on three study regions at South America, West Africa and Siberia.