Corine land cover 2012 for the UK, Jersey and Guernsey

This dataset for the UK, Jersey and Guernsey contains the Corine Land Cover (CLC) for 2012 (CLC2012). This dataset has been created from combining the 2012 land cover layers from the individual CLC files for the UK, Jersey and Guernsey.

CLC is a dataset produced within the frame of the Initial Operations of the Copernicus programme (the European Earth monitoring programme previously known as GMES) on land monitoring. CLC provides consistent information on land cover and land cover changes across Europe. This inventory was initiated in 1985 (initial year 1990) and then established a time series of land cover information with updates in 2000 and 2006 the last one being the 2012 reference year.

CLC products are based on the analysis of satellite images by national teams of participating countries - the EEA member and cooperating countries - following a standard methodology and nomenclature with the following base parameters:

- 44 classes in the hierarchical three level Corine nomenclature;

- Minimum mapping unit (MMU) for status layers is 25 hectares;

- Minimum width of linear elements is 100 metres;

The resulting national land cover inventories are further integrated into a seamless land cover map of Europe. Land cover and land use (LCLU) information is important not only for land change research, but also more broadly for the monitoring of environmental change, policy support, the creation of environmental indicators and reporting. CLC datasets provide important datasets supporting the implementation of key priority areas of the Environment Action Programmes of the European Union as protecting ecosystems, halting the loss of biological diversity, tracking the impacts of climate change, assessing developments in agriculture and implementing the EU Water Framework Directive, among others.