ESA WorldCover: Global land cover mapping at 10 m resolution for 2020 based on Sentinel-1 and 2 data.
Abstract
In an ever-changing environment, the need for accurate, up-to-date and high-resolution information on land use/land cover and its changes has increased tremendously in recent years. However, to date, regional or continental land cover maps have been based exclusively on high-resolution optical Earth observation data such as Sentinel-2 or Landsat, while the use of SAR data such as Sentinel-1 to produce land cover maps over large areas is still in its infancy. To this end, the European Space Agency (ESA) initiated the WorldCover project, which will release a freely accessible global land cover product with 10 m resolution for 2020 in October 2021, based on both Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 data. A crucial aspect for WorldCover was the involvement of various end-users such as WRI, UNCCD, FAO, CIFOR & OECD working in different fields. They provided primary inputs for all technical aspects and followed the entire workflow of the project from design to validation and uptake. Consequently, WorldCover plans to provide a significant benefit to various user communities and expand the established global land cover base of users and the development of novel services. In this presentation, we will introduce this new WorldCover product, guide you through the technical details, illustrate the complementary power of Sentinel-1 and 2 for global land cover mapping, and zoom in on the added value of this new product for many applications such as biodiversity, food security, carbon assessment, and climate modeling.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2021
- Bibcode:
- 2021AGUFMGC45I0915V