Coastal Zones Land Cover Land Use Mapping

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Copernicus Land Monitoring Service

Coastal Zones – Land Cover

Land Use Mapping

An introduction to the new CLMS local

hotspot monitoring product

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Executive Summary

This document summarises the introductory / launch meeting, 'Coastal Zones – Land Cover Land Use Mapping - An introduction to the new Copernicus Land Monitoring Service local hotspot monitoring product', held on 8 April 2021 which presented the new Coastal Zones hotspot component.

Due to COVID restrictions, the meeting was organised online, attracted 877 registrations and 585 attendees.

The coastal zone is home to important ecosystems that are vulnerable to natural processes, climate forcing and pressure from anthropogenic activities. It is a highly dynamic environment and changes need to be properly monitored and understood to manage it better and preserve ecosystems while remaining functional for human activity.

This Coastal Zones product is the first result of a cooperative effort between the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS) and the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS), which began in late 2016 with an expert meeting1_{, followed by a broader user consultation in mid-2017}2_{, and then}

produced a coastal zones roadmap3_{in the form of a document which was presented to the Copernicus}

Committee in Q4 2018.

Both the land and marine perspectives on the coastal zones were presented at this meeting as it is a continuum from the land to the edge of the continental shelf. Collaboration is therefore vital to provide the comprehensive picture required to manage the coastal areas in a balanced and sustainable manner

allowing economic growth while supporting the implementation of environmental legislation within the context of integrated spatial management for coastal resilience.

The first tangible outcome of the collaboration described above is the Coastal Zones product which is composed of two status layers for 2012 and 2018 and a change layer from 2012 to 2018. The mapping specification was based on very high spatial resolution (VHR) EO data to record land cover/land use classes with a minimum mapping unit (MMU) of 0.5 ha and a minimum mapping width (MMW) of 10 m. After collecting stakeholder input, a final set of 71 classes were defined and mapped for an area of interest of over 2.2 million km2_{, including the sea. A look & feel assessment checked both the thematic coding and the}

geometry correctness of the polygons (delineation, level of detail and positional accuracy). The average thematic accuracy was almost 85% at level 5 and approached 95% at level 1.

To understand the context within which this product was developed and to show how it may be exploited, use cases were presented. These use cases were:

• support from the analysis of vulnerability in coastal areas and the assessment of hydro-morphological features,

• development of a European coastal flood awareness system, to inform and quantify flood risk to supra-tidal coastal habitats,

1_{https://land.copernicus.eu/user-corner/technical-library/coastal-monitoring-workshop-dec-2016-summary}

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4 • uses to generate new information and to improve coastal and marine modelling,

• support to LIFE projects and identification and characterisation of areas with a known risk of erosion. The coastal zone is a dynamic area, and its management is influenced by the conflict between economic development (growth and jobs) and the maintenance of a sustainable environment. Copernicus services play a key role in providing the required knowledge, which is essential for decision makers and downstream services. The coastal zone roadmap and movement towards better cross service cooperation are vital as well as improvements that are planned in the structure and specification of the CLMS products to better address user and policy needs and to monitor dynamic landscape features.

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Abbreviations and Acronyms

Acronym Description

AoI Area of Interest

C3S Copernicus Climate Change Service

CAMS Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service

CEMS Copernicus Emergency Management Service

CLC+ CORINE Land Cover 2nd_generation

CLMS Copernicus Land Monitoring Service

CMEMS Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service

CORINE Coordination of Information on the Environment'

COVID Coronavirus Disease

DEM Digital Elevation Model

DIAS Data and Information Access Service

DWH Data WareHouse

EAGLE EIONET Action Group on Land monitoring in Europe

EC European Commission

ECFAS European Coastal Flood Awareness System

ECMWF European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasting

EEA European Environment Agency

EMODnet European Marine Observation and Data Network

ESA European Space Agency

ETC / ULS European Topic Centre on Urban, Land and Soil Systems

EU European Union

EVI Environmental Vulnerability Index

HRL High Resolution Layer

ISPRA Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research

IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature

IUSS University School for Advanced Studies in Pavia

JRC Joint Research Centre

KC Knowledge Centre

LCLU Land Cover / Land Use

MAES Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services

MMU Minimum Mapping Unit

MMW Minimum Mapping Width

MOi Mercator Ocean International

SME Small and Medium-sized Enterprise

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

VHR Very High spatial Resolution

WEkEO One of DIASs

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ACKGROUND

This document summarises the proceedings of the introductory / launch meeting, 'Coastal Zones – Land Cover Land Use Mapping - An introduction to the new Copernicus Land Monitoring Service local hotspot monitoring product', held on 8 April 2021. It was organised within a specific contract under framework contract No EEA/DIS/R0/18/008 - Copernicus Land Monitoring Services – Production of Very High Resolution Land Cover / Land Use dataset for coastal zones for reference years 2012 and 2018.

The meeting presented the new Coastal Zones product after its delivery. It consists of status maps for 2012 and 2018 and a change layer. More details about the product, including a direct access to the dataset, can be found at https://land.copernicus.eu/local/coastal-zones. The meeting also included a series of

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EETING MINUTES

The meeting’s Agendawas divided into a series of sessions which addressed the background, the product, potential use cases and a forward look.

2.1. Introduction

Hans Dufourmont of the European Environment Agency (EEA) welcomed everyone to the meeting on behalf of the organisers. The EEA is the entrusted entity for the local / hotspot and pan-European components of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS) and had thus managed the production of the Coastal Zones product by delegation of the European Commission (EC). To break the ice and allow more people to join the webinar, Hans launched a poll about the geographic distribution of the participants. The results are available in Section 5. A total of 66 countries were represented, mainly from Europe, but participation from all continents except Antarctica was recorded.

This Coastal Zones product is the result of a long-standing cooperative effort between CLMS and

Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS). It started in 2016 at an expert meeting of the land and marine communities at which discussions began on a Coastal Zones product suitable for Copernicus. In 2017 a user consultation process led to the coastal zones roadmap document4_{which was}

presented to the Copernicus Committee in 2018. Finally, in 2019 a contract was tendered to map the EEA38 countries, plus the United Kingdom, to produce the Coastal Zones data set. The service provider consortium led by Planetek completed the specified mapping in 1.5 years. The results were presented during this meeting, but they are only a starting point for further integration and analysis of data in the coastal zone. The coastal zone is very vulnerable to natural processes and climate forcing and under high pressure from anthropogenic activities. The area where land and sea meet is characterised by mutual influences from and between the two domains. It is highly dynamic and events in such areas need to be properly understood to manage it better and preserve ecosystems while enabling them to remain functional for human activity. From land and marine monitoring perspectives there are standard sets of tools, but these are different, thus causing a discontinuity in the coastal zone. Bringing the two domains together is a difficult challenge and the connection trends and activities need to be fully developed. The Coastal Zones product is an excellent starting point.

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2.2. SESSION 1: Copernicus for coastal zones

The coastal zone falls between two of the Copernicus services, so it is important to understand how it is viewed from these different perspectives and how the Copernicus services are working together.

2.2.1. The land perspective

Andrus Meiner of the EEA introduced the land perspective and acknowledged that the coastal zone is a continuum from dry land to deep ocean via the land sea interface. Any work in this area must combine data products from multiple Copernicus services and other sources. In particular, coastal zones are influenced by river discharges and climate forcing which may be considered as external to the CLMS and CMEMS areas of responsibility. Fortunately, the required information may be provided by other Copernicus services such as the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) and Member State organisations. Collaboration is therefore vital to identify the best way to address the coastal zone which sits at the edge of the remit of each of the services.

Coastal zones are important because they are highly valuable for human activities, but also natural processes and ecosystem services. Due to access to resources, transport, and land for building etc., the coastal zone tends to have a high population density with over 40% of people in the European Union (EU) living in its 378 coastal areas. This has a consequent impact on the economic value of the coastal zone due to the presence of settlements, industry, recreation, and trade, etc. Equally important is its high value in terms of the biodiversity of species and habitats and the presence of highly productive coastal ecosystems. There is a need to monitor pressures on natural resources and the people that live there. Intensive land cover/use change and the presence of anthropogenic structures have a major impact, as 73% of coastal habitats are in a bad or inadequate conservation status. There is also water pollution, sea level rise, storm-related and coastline stability issues.

Management of coastal zones must rely on a balanced approach to sustainability to allow economic growth, while supporting the implementation of environmental legislation within the context of integrated spatial management for coastal resilience5_{. Such sustainable management relies on effective coastal zone}

monitoring which must be built on a reliable and relevant geospatial reference base such as that provided by very high spatial resolution land cover and habitat mapping. The EU requires monitoring for coastal vulnerability (addressing climate change impacts and adaptation), compliance with the Biodiversity Strategy (ecosystem/habitat assessment and restoration) and the Water Framework Directive (WFD, land-based pressures on transitional and coastal waters).

Several CLMS products include some information related to coastal zones, but they do not cover all of the EU coastline in sufficient detail. There is also a need for more complete harmonisation between these existing products and Coastal Zones product. These types of products must also be linked to activities of national authorities. It is therefore important to develop the right nomenclature to capture all the needs and ensure links to other products.

The Coastal Zones product specifications provides a satisfactory spatial and thematic resolution and already comes with a change layer from 2012 to 2018. It should be combined with in situ and statistical data to

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9 prepare reliable change trends assessments and accounts, for example to provide estimates of the coastal water and wetland consumption by other land covers / land uses.

Although the specifications for spatial resolution represent an improvement, and the thematic detail is adapted to coastal zones, there is scope for future development. The area of interest could be adapted in places and a 3-year update frequency would represent a useful improvement. Evolutions for monitoring seasonal changes e.g., coastal erosion, sediment transport, vegetation phenology, pollution and support adaptation strategies are also desirable.

2.2.2. The marine perspective

Pierre-Yves Le Traon from Mercator Ocean International (MOi), the Entrusted Entity for CMEMS,

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2.2.3. Discussion

These introductory presentations highlighted the range of products and information being produced or planned, the complexity of the topic and the challenges ahead. It was noted that there is now considerable interest from the EC in pushing cross service integration in Copernicus 2.0. CMEMS and CLMS are leading this initiative with the development of the Coastal Zones product.

2.3. SESSION 2: Coastal Zones project results

The first tangible outcome of the collaboration described above is the CLMS Coastal Zones product itself which was developed by the service provider and reviewed and validated by external experts.

2.3.1. Results of the project

The outcomes of the project and the Coastal Zones product were presented by Claudio La Mantia from Planetek Italia who represents the service provider consortium which also includes Planetek Hellas, Telespazio and GeoVille. The product addresses a complex and dynamic environment in great detail along the whole of the EEA 38 and UK coastline. It is the fourth local component within the CLMS and is

complementary to pan-European and global components.

The product is made up of three geospatial data sets, two status layers for 2012 and 2018 and a change layer from 2012 to 2018. Initially, the area of interest (AOI) for the product covered a small distance offshore (~ 1 km) and a greater distance inland (~ 10 km) to encompass the area over which the coastal zone has an influence based on the EU Hydro coastline. These boundary conditions resulted in a total area to be mapped of approximately 720,000 km2_{. The mapping specification was based on very high spatial}

resolution (VHR) EO data to record land cover / land use classes with a minimum mapping unit (MMU) of 0.5 ha and a minimum mapping width (MMW) of 10 m. The initial class nomenclature was derived from a combination of the other CLMS local component nomenclatures.

The preparatory phase of the project was driven by stakeholders to collect their feedback of the proposed product before it entered production. Surveys and a workshop were organised across all sectors of the coastal zone community. The stakeholders were able to suggest amendments to the AOI via geolocated feedback, which resulted in both inland and seaward expansion of the product to cover extensive intertidal areas, large estuaries, or ports etc. Conservation and protected areas were also included in their entirety if they were influenced by the coast. After a large number of comments, the AOI increased to reach over 2.2 million km2_{including the sea. The stakeholders were also able to influence the nomenclature definition}

via an online survey by suggesting new classes, merging others, rearranging them in a hierarchy and refining their naming to reach a final set of 71 classes. From the stakeholder feedback it was possible to refine the technical specification and improve the mapping guidelines used by the interpreters. A broad distribution of countries and organisations were represented, but unfortunately not all European coastal countries responded to the surveys or participated in the workshops. The final stage of the initial

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11 After incorporating the stakeholder feedback, the production of the Coastal Zones layers began in earnest. The workflow integrated other CLMS local component products (i.e., Urban Atlas, Natura 2000, and Riparian Zones) along with Open Street Map data to form a geometric skeleton of landscape objects for 2012 which could be labelled with the agreed nomenclature. The classes for each object were selected by visual interpretation of the VHR imagery from 2012 from the European Space Agency (ESA) Data

Warehouse (DWH). Some multitemporal images and additional ancillary data were also used to support the classification of some objects. VHR imagery for 2018 (also from the ESA DWH) were used to identify

changes between 2012 and 2018 before the 2018 status layer was generated by an automated process combining the 2012 status layer and 2012-2018 changes. The final products include a lot of thematic information and fine spatial detail over multiple time steps.

Unfortunately, this approach cannot always accurately map the dynamic aspects of the coastal zones due to seasonal and tidal height differences between adjacent VHR images. For extensive intertidal areas such as large estuaries and embayments the 25 ha MMU CORINE Land Cover was used to complete the product. More advanced treatments of the dynamic intertidal areas will require a different approach to the static thematic vector classes of a land cover / land use map.

The service providers performed an internal quality assurance on the products, using the geometrical and topological checks available through the EEA Quality Control tool. Thematic accuracy was assessed through a stratified random sample based on the size and distribution of each thematic class, plus additional points in areas mapped as changes. Finally, approximately 60,000 samples points were interpreted with blind and plausibility approaches at different thematic levels against the original VHR data. The results showed a very high accuracy, which met the specification set out by the EEA.

In summary, the user involvement was a very positive aspect of the project and allowed high quality products to be delivered and an in-depth integration of the user needs collected. Compared to the other CLMS local component products there is a missing year for 2006, but it would be possible to map it to close the gap. Further harmonisation of local component / hot-spot nomenclatures are also important. Finally, it must be re-emphasised that the coastal dynamic aspects cannot be mapped on these static land cover / land use products but there are opportunities for future development.

2.3.2. Results of the look and feel assessment

Gergely Maucha from the Lechner Institute in Hungary, part of the European Topic Centre on Urban, Land and Soil Systems (ETC/ULS), presented the results of a look & feel assessment of the Coastal Zones layers. The 'look and 'feel' analysis provides a verification of the product which is different from a full validation. It provides, within-production quality control activities, corrective guidance and feedback to the data

producer and can be performed with limited resources, but it does not provide any final accuracy figures which would come later, post-production. However, it still checks against reality with reference imagery from the same year and is produced by independent experts.

The verification was performed on the 2018 status layer and the 2012-2018 changes (ongoing). The methodology for the status layer was based on the photointerpretation of 10 random polygons for each class. A plausibility approach was adopted where the interpreter was able to check the class in the product against the reference imagery. The interpreters checked both the thematic coding and the correctness of the geometry of the polygon boundary (delineation, level of detail and positional accuracy). The 710

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12 polygon sizes between 0.5 and 1000 ha. For the geometry correctness 78 % delineated the correct area, over 95% had sufficient detail and only 2 of the 710 polygons had positional accuracy issues. When considering the class level results, the urban classes are excellent, crop and forest classes are good, grassland, heathland and scrub classes have lower accuracy, and the results are good for water and wetland.

Change methodology can be quite complex as there are many aspects that need to be considered. It was decided to check 10 samples of level-1 change types using the Google Earth time sliders, Bing images plus other information for the reference years 2012 and 2018 only. Again, the class codes for both dates and the geometry of the change area were checked. For some class combinations there were less than 10 examples which would fit the size criteria. As the full change layer is yet to be delivered, the process is still on going, but the change detections appear generally good, but may need some improvement.

Some issues requiring further improvement were identified. They are related to the improper use of some classes, logical issues around some mapped changes, some biogeographic issues of reported classes and general issues around false changes, transient phenomena, and object delineation.

2.3.3. Discussion

The production of the Coastal Zones product represents a tremendous amount of work to map this important area for 2012 and 2018 and demonstrates well how collaboration with industry and Members States is being brought together in a helpful symbiosis.

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2.4. SESSION 3: Coastal Zones use cases

To understand the context within which the Coastal Zones product was developed and to show how it may be exploited, a number of use cases were presented in this session.

2.4.1. Vulnerability of the Italian coastal areas: CZ data as a support to

the analysis

Angela Barbano from the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) explained how the Coastal Zones product could support the analysis of vulnerable coastal areas. ISPRA has developed a GIS-based system for the observation of Italian coastal zones near to the shore which aims to detect their status, maritime works / coastal defences, and geomorphological changes (2000, 2006 and 2019). The main inputs are derived from high spatial resolution aerial photography to map waterlines and the inner

boundary of the beach according to their natural or artificial type (e.g., sand, rock, cliff, defence works, harbour, dense urban, vegetation, roads, beach facilities) and morphological parameters of width and length.

The shoreline data are used to produce national and local environmental indicators and report, for natural and artificial shorelines, whether coasts are eroding, stable or accreting and whether they are protected by defence structures. Many Italian coastal areas are extremely vulnerable. For instance, the majority of Italian beaches are longer than 1 km but are only a few tens of metres wide and their inland edge is often

characterised by urban land cover types. More than a quarter of the beaches are eroding, and a retreat of 10 m can cause serious consequences inland, so over 1300 km of coastline are protected with hard defence structures. In combination with the shoreline data the Coastal Zones product can be used to analyse geomorphological vulnerability, natural and anthropic pressures, areas at risk and mitigation and protection actions.

2.4.2. Assessment of hydro-morphological features in coastal area using

Copernicus and other products

Monika Peterlin from the EEA and Gorazd Urbanic from the Institute for Holistic Environmental

Management (URBANZERO) presented how Copernicus and other products can be used to assess hydro-morphological features in coastal areas. These are intense areas exposed to multiple pressures and human activities are increasing. These impacts will grow in the future due to the blue and green economies and often different policies and regulations that cause overlap. Therefore, multiple impacts on hydro-morphological features can be expected together with a need for reliable assessment tools to support policy development in these areas. For example, the EU Green Deal implementation will be based on geospatial knowledge and measurement of progress towards sustainability targets. This is a challenge for local, regional, Member State, European and global actors, who all need harmonised, reliable, specific, and timely data. Users can develop new approaches, but there are data gaps due to incomplete monitoring, lack of harmonisation and lack of data sharing which need to be addressed. A GIS-based pan-European tool for assessment of physical alteration of coastal and transition waters driven by CLMS data was introduced by the speakers.

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14 structures have an impact on sediment transport, thus there is a need for a holistic approach. The hydro-morphological assessment approach works across scales from local to regional, uses a baseline which may be type specific (e.g., lagoons, estuaries) and assesses deviations from the baseline with qualitative and quantitative data in different assessment units. There are a broad range of methods to address hydro-morphological situations from different organisations and Member States which needed to be assessed. The Coastal Zones product provides a harmonised base for hydro-morphological assessment across Europe, especially as classes are targeted at important coastal zones elements such as intertidal flats, saltmarshes, beaches & dunes. The majority of hydro-morphological features can be addressed at least partially by the Coastal Zones product, especially when combined with other data (e.g., EMODnet and other Copernicus services).

The Coastal Zones product has strengths and challenges when supporting hydro-morphological assessment. It provides specific and detailed land cover / land use information for the coastal zones which is common to all thematic hot spot products (e.g., Riparian Zones and Natura 2000 etc.) and compatible with Corine Land Cover. The same approach is applied across all countries for two status layers and the change layer that compares them. Even though there is change information in the Coastal Zones product the baseline of 2012 is still quite recent for taking into account some types of coastal change. On-shore coastal structures (e.g., harbours, jetties, docks, breakwaters, groynes) are mapped, but are classified as part of other land cover land use classes (e.g., various urban classes). The product could be extended to map all coastal zone hydro-morphological assessment-relevant features.

Is coastal erosion a pressure for coastal habitats and species? This is a good point, as coastal habitats and species are naturally dynamic, but human forcing is increasing erosion, as a result of climate change impacts, so coastal erosion can be considered a pressure for coastal habitats and species and will be dealt with in future work.

It was noted that although EO is powerful tool, it is often necessary to include other types of information and combine them effectively. The next generation CORINE Land Cover, CLC+, is in development and is explicitly designed to combine different products and information layers into a single, but hybrid, database which provides tailored answers to specific requirements.

2.4.3. The Coastal Zone Layer: a primary product for the implementation

of a European Coastal Flood Awareness System

Clara Armaroli from the University School for Advanced Studies (IUSS) in Pavia described how the Coastal Zones product could be important for a European Coastal Flood Awareness System (ECFAS). The ECFAS is currently a proof of concept under a Horizon 2020 research and innovation action related to the future evolution of the CEMS. It builds on an existing framework for river system flooding and exploits the Copernicus Services portfolio (C3S, CEMS, CLMS, CMEMS). The technical and operational feasibility of ECFAS will be demonstrated through the implementation and testing of the full operational chain (from marine forcing components, coastal flood forecasting, to mapping components for impact assessment). The uptake of the system will be guaranteed by involving user communities from the beginning of the project, together with SMEs and industry, and the coastal community at large through the Copernicus User Forum and the Copernicus Relays.

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15 culminates with integration within the CEMS. The Coastal Zones product is an important input to provide exposure and vulnerability data for use in the flood modelling and impact assessment which can be delivered for coastal segments supported by DEMs and collected in a flood map catalogue. The project is identifying, analysing, and assessing existing datasets for completeness, coverage, accuracy, specifications, and access to support the production of new vulnerability datasets (e.g., population age, social, economic status). ECFAS will also provide semi-automatic shoreline position extraction from satellite images which represents key information for delineation and grading maps and risk / recovery products within CEMS. Various test cases have been selected at the European level to calibrate and validate the flood models and impact assessment methods. The system will be triggered by upcoming events defined on the basis of thresholds, predictions will be extracted from the flood map catalogue and then the impacts will be used to assess the system results.

2.4.4. Can land cover mapping inform and quantify flood risk to

supra-tidal coastal habitats?

Michael Hanley and Cally Barratt from the University of Plymouth outlined the potential use of land cover mapping to inform and quantify flood risk to supra-tidal coastal habitats. The project looks at the requirements of a hardcore experimental biologist and puts them in the context of the mapping that is now available from the Coastal Zones product. It is important to understand coastal processes and anthropogenic impacts on the links to the economy and finance, for instance with insurance etc. The northeast Atlantic is experiencing more extreme weather, the impacts of which are now felt in socio-economic terms. These impacts will increase over time with anthropogenic climate change (storms and sea level rise). Coastal areas which are exposed to these impacts are sources of ecosystem services and biodiversity, but also act as natural storm defences. The impacts of sea water flooding in these habitats and adjacent land cover and land use types may normally only occur every 100 years, but they are now becoming more frequent.

More regular immersion of supra tidal vegetation by sea water reduces their protection value and the landscapes behind are also negatively affected by the consequent economic impacts. Experiments across Europe confirm this effect, but there are variations across regions and plant species. As extreme events increase, some species will be lost while other ones will become more dominant resulting in ecosystem or habitat change. A particular mapped coastal polygon may therefore change its habitat type over time. There are consequent links to populations of soil invertebrates and pollinators, so holistic ecosystem responses are important, and we do not know exactly what will happen.

The research carried out at the University of Plymouth is now focussing on environmental vulnerability, and on how these ecosystems will respond. An outline Environmental Vulnerability Index (EVI) was developed in the THESUS project to give a traffic light system to assess whether the ecosystem will evolve into something new based on the number and intensity of inundations. This is important for understanding and identify vulnerable coastlines for management and protection measures. We need to consider the difference between supra tidal and intertidal habitats, hard and soft defences and the necessity for expensive engineering or managed retreat solutions. The mapping is crucial to manage these areas and to find which areas will get flooded and what land use types will be affected. This work can obviously exploit the Coastal Zones product, but it will need nuanced intertidal mapping and additional variables.

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2.4.5. Potential uses of CLMS Coastal Zones datasets to generate new

products and to improve coastal and marine modelling: application

in The Netherlands and EU Projects

Ghada El Serafy from Deltares, as EO service provider, outlined some of the potential uses of the Coastal Zones product to generate new information and to improve coastal and marine modelling in The Netherlands and Europe. Coastal zones are constantly under threat and there is a need for monitoring at fine spatial and temporal scales. EO and models must be used to complement in situ monitoring as part of tailored coastal information systems which address specific user requirements and societal questions in a particular context. Services must be accessible and embedded into the user chain. There are a broad range of relevant variables, but they come with huge challenges in terms of resolution, consistency, uncertainty, and access. The definition of the coastal zone is not always clear, but it often includes river discharges, vegetation monitoring along rivers, intertidal areas and around the coastline. EO-based vegetation indices can be used to estimate primary productivity which is important for wetland and conservation areas. Coastal bathymetry derived from a range of sources must be combined into a consistent layer for hydrodynamics and habitat mapping to drive models. The Coastal Zones product can support the development of mapping applications for coastal ecosystems and ecotypes. The land cover / land use then becomes a key driver for ecosystem modelling, for example with microphytobenthos in the Wadden Sea. In such a dynamic environment, shoreline detection is crucial and can be achieved with Sentinel-1 data. In conclusion, Copernicus services can support the provision of high-resolution products and services in different coastal sectors and different geographic regions.

2.4.6. Potential uses of Coastal Zone cartography to support ongoing

LIFE projects in an island context: the case of the Azores

Diana Pereira, from the Azores Regional Government’ Regional Secretariat of Environment and Climate Change, described the potential uses of the Coastal Zones product to support LIFE projects in the Azores. Four LIFE projects are being carried out in the Azores to address climate change, endangered species, Natura 2000 management and improved conservation status.

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2.4.7. Characterising areas at risk of coastal erosion — Examples from

the UK

Geoff Smith from Specto Natura, an EO consultancy, outlined some potential uses of the Coastal Zones product for identifying and characterising areas with a known risk of erosion, in particular the habitats and land cover / land use types behind the coastline. Coastal zones are challenged by increased exposure to human exploitation, environmental forcing from climate change and sea level rise which result in increased erosion and flood risk and loss of ecosystem services. The eastern region of the UK adjacent to the North Sea is dominated by low lying sedimentary coasts with large embayments and estuaries consisting mainly of sandy beaches, mudflats, and saltmarshes. The land behind this coast is dominated by agriculture (some reclaimed from the sea), but also some urban areas and key infrastructure.

One example of key infrastructure at risk is the Bacton Gas Terminal on the coast of North Norfolk where most of the UK's gas from the southern North Sea comes ashore. The coastline is under considerable threat and recently a major sandscaping project was implemented to provide a nature-based solution to protect the cliffs. In the CLC2018 dataset the gas terminal and nearby urban area are visible but there is very limited detail of the landscape around due to its pan-European specification. The Coastal Zones product offers more spatial and thematic detail and smaller linear features and therefore better represents the landscape and would be more useful to local planning agencies. The Coastal Zones product can be interrogated in terms of various reporting approaches to understand which land cover / land use types are at risk in different areas. Summaries of the Coastal Zones product within local authority areas allows the government to better target resources across administrations. Also, buffers zones representing the regions at different distances from the coast show which features will be under increased risk over time as the coast erodes. This information can then guide land use planning and the application of tailored land management practices to cope with likely erosion scenarios.

In conclusion, coastal zones face a range of challenges and regular spatially detailed monitoring is vital to manage them effectively. The Coastal Zones product is a definite improvement over the CLC data previously available for the pan-European coastline and will be a foundation for much work in the future. However, further improvements should be considered such as, more frequent updates, improved spatial detail or a different mapping approach in dynamic areas and extra thematic detail in the intertidal classes.

2.4.8. Discussion

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2.5. SESSION 4: Copernicus for Coastal Zones — an outlook and

discussion

The final session highlighted the plans for the future of the Coastal Zones product within the CLMS.

2.5.1. Outlook for CLMS activities for coastal zones

Matteo Mattiuzzi, the Project Manager for the Coastal Zones product at the EEA described the outlook for CLMS activities for coastal zones. The future of CLMS is now being defined in a new Contribution Agreement, which it is being negotiated with the European Commission and will shape the CLMS until 2027. Today, coastal zone management is the nexus of a conflict between economic development (growth and jobs) and the maintenance of a sustainable environment. To ensure social and ecosystem resilience there is a need to bridge the gap between knowledge (data / information and methods / tools) and governance (decision-makers at every level). In general, Copernicus services play a key role in providing the required knowledge, which is essential for decision makers and downstream services. The coastal roadmap document developed jointly with CMEMS provides direction. As the coastal zone intersects with the remit of several Copernicus services there is a need for cross-service coordination beyond the limit of the currently defined thematic domains.

CLMS is the service dealing with land areas, thus it delivers information relevant for spatial planning, vulnerably assessments, ecological status of the landscape etc., but 'land' is just a part of the picture in coastal zones. Several phenomena cross the boundaries between Copernicus Services, e.g., rivers discharge to the sea, storm surges impact the land, etc. Vulnerability, coastal erosion, sea level rise impacts etc. are always the result of interactions between sea, land, and weather phenomenon. We must always consider the needs and capabilities of the other Copernicus services.

The CLMS components implemented by the EEA range from low level information, which is acquired continuously or in near real time, and providing biophysical parameters such as vegetation phenology, through medium level information such as the HRLs addressing a single land cover feature produced every 3 years to the high level, as well as thematically complex products such as the Coastal Zones produced every 6 years. Another very relevant product in this context is the EU-Hydro which models the watersheds of the river network from the EU-DEM and by digitising from VHR imagery.

After signing the Contribution Agreement with the European Commission, we will develop the outlook for CLMS in Copernicus 2.0 (2021-2027) and will be implementing several upgrades to the products. Unifying the Coastal Zones and Riparian Zones land cover land use layers into to a single 'Water' product would help to better address the WFD requirements. Considering the highly dynamic nature of the coastal zone, it would be justified to change the product update frequency to 3 years, from the current 6-year update cycle, as highlighted in some of the use cases. Also, now that the first two versions of the product are complete, any future updates will consequently require less effort in production, as only changes will need to be mapped. There is a desire to make EU-Hydro the central container for geolocated water related information (e.g., river measurement stations) on land to facilitate improved modelling of river discharges etc. Finally, it is becoming more important to map coastal protective structures due to their impact on coastal vulnerability.

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19 / non-vegetated, biotic / vegetated and water / cryo / hydro distinctions. So, there will for instance be continuous / near real time monitoring of the hydrosphere extent (e.g., surface water), tides (min, max, mean, etc.), shoreline position, erosion / accretion (sediment balance) and river water discharge. There will also be the possibility of satellite-based monitoring of water quality (e.g., algae blooms, turbidity, and other parameters).

2.5.2. Open discussion

Hans Dufourmont, Head of CLMS at the EEA, then moderated an open discussion session to deal with some of the questions raised by the audience.

The dynamic nature of the coast was again highlighted and the challenge of how it can be monitored with essentially static layers produced for specific reference periods. In many cases the basic but more dynamic products describing features such as vegetation phenology will be used to support the static maps by characterising objects in the Coastal Zones product. This is similar for water and wetness and for the snow and ice HRLs which aggregate frequent recorded basic information to generate higher level information such as permanent water from regular mapping of the extent of the water surface. Coastal zones are challenging, but the aggregation process and approaches such as those spearheaded by the EAGLE data model which characterises rather than classifies a feature can help in this respect. For example, a mudflat polygon in the Coastal Zones product will change during the year or even on individual tides, so the changing character for multiple variables and their temporal aspects can be attached to the polygon so that the user can interpret it in a way that is tailored to its requirements. For example, the timing of a flooding event during the year is also important to assess the impact of the inundation, not only the fact that it was flooded.

The amount of EO data currently being collected means that monitoring could be performed on an intra-annual basis, but it is clear that we still need to define in more detail the features that need to be monitored and establish reliable and robust processes that can deliver the data in a more automated fashion.

It was also discussed how to define the coast, but not how to define the coastal zone – how to achieve consistent geographies within the land-sea interface. From the marine perspective, it is the area extending inshore from estuary mouth affected by salt waters and offshore from the surf zone to continental shelf where ocean currents meet continental waters. The landward buffer of the coastal zones represents all the area which is under oceanic influence or influences the marine area. The 10 km buffer was suggested by DG JRC which had previously analysed at what distance from the coastline features with a coastal character were generally not present in the land cover distribution. This assumption was then amended by the stakeholders and applied with several exceptions such as inland harbours and coastal Natura 2000 sites etc. in the production of the Coastal Zones product.

One participant noted that intertidal areas have not been extracted in detail in the current Coastal Zones product, and asked whether there are there any plans for more detail in the future? EEA responded that the static land cover / land use data set cannot, by nature, monitor all of these highly dynamic situations. This was known before the call for tenders for the production of the Coastal Zones product, and options were considered: a detailed snapshot or implementing a seriously complex solution to map dynamic systems. New products will be built on the second approach.

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20 The whole of Malta and other small islands has been mapped in the Coastal Zones product. A Maltese representative asked whether this product would override the national coastal management and reporting processes? EEA answered that it was a policy question which requires further investigation by the EC, but that the Coastal Zones product should not trigger changes in reporting as it is a multi-purpose product. In response to several questions, EEA and/or the service provider made the following statements:

• There will be better spatial resolutions in the future, but this may only be when looking at dynamic aspects of the coastal zone which require great precision to identify subtle changes.

• The number of person hours for completing the production and covering ~720,000 km2 _{is equivalent}

to 70 people for 1 year full time.

One stakeholder asked how consistency across multiple interpreters within the service provider team was ensured? The service provider indicated that the members of the team underwent a rigorous training programme and during production online tools checked issues and discussions were organised within the team.

Another one enquired whether future water quality information will be provided for coastal waters only or inland waters too? EEA responded that the EC has asked the Agency to add a water quality component to the Water and Wetness HRL using Sentinel-2 as the input for turbidity and algal blooms for all waterbodies within the EEA38 (+UK).

A participant indicated that, as the movement and deposition of sediments in the coastal zone affected elevation and so there is a need for high-accuracy DEMs. These would be very relevant for flooding and storm modelling, while the various elevation models are available but may not meet all the necessary requirements at the pan-European level.

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21

3. C

ONCLUSION

This was a very useful and interesting workshop addressing a vitally important part of the landscape which is also extremely challenging to map and monitor effectively. The outcomes will be important for the ongoing development of the Coastal Zones product and the CLMS portfolio overall.

The coastal zone is very vulnerable to natural processes and climate forcing, and under high pressure from anthropogenic activities, while home to large parts of the population and economy. As the area where land and sea meet it is mutually influenced by the two domains and also within the remit of several Copernicus services fostering the need for collaboration and coordination.

The service provider consortium has successfully produced a multi-date product and change layer for the whole of the European coastline which exceed the performance of any previous land cover land use dataset at continental scale.

The use cases presented by the external experts confirm the need for a Coastal Zones product, contribute to demonstrate how it could be exploited in real-world applications and identify potential future extensions and improvements.

The level of attendance at the workshop, the lively question and answer sessions, as well as the subsequent discussion show the importance of coastal zones and the interest in these types of geospatial products to support management and research.

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22

4. A

GENDA

C

OASTAL

Z

ONES

–

L

AND

C

OVER

L

AND

U

SE

M

APPING

A

N INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW

CLMS

LOCAL HOTSPOT MONITORING PRODUCT

Date: 8 April 2021

Venue: Online

10:00-10:15 Welcome

- Hans Dufourmont (EEA)

10:15-10:40 SESSION 1: Copernicus for coastal zones

- Andrus Meiner (EEA) — The land perspective (10 min.)

- Dr Pierre-Yves Le Traon (MOi) — The marine perspective (10 min.) - Q&A (5 min.)

10:40-11:25 SESSION 2: Coastal Zones project results

- Claudio La Mantia (Planetek Italia) — Results of the project (20 min.)

- Gergely Maucha (Lechner Hungary) — Results of the Look & Feel assessment of CZ data (ETC/ULS) (15 min.)

- Q&A (10 min.) 11:25-11:40 Break

11:40-12:40 SESSION 3: Coastal Zones use cases — Part 1 (15 min. each)

- Angela Barbano (ISPRA) — Vulnerability of the Italian coastal areas: CZ data as a

support to the analysis

- Dr Monika Peterlin (EEA) / Dr Gorazd Urbanic (URBANZERO Institute for holistic environmental management) — Assessment of hydro-morphological features in coastal area using Copernicus and other products

- Dr Clara Armaroli (IUSS Pavia) — The Coastal Zone Layer: a primary product for the implementation of a European Coastal Flood Awareness System (ECFAS)

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23 11:30-12:30 SESSION 3: Coastal Zones use cases — Part 2 (15 min. each)

- Cally Barratt / Dr Michael Hanley (University of Plymouth) — Can land cover mapping inform and quantify flood risk to supra-tidal coastal habitats (University of Plymouth)

- Dr Ghada El Serafy (Deltares) — Potential uses of CLMS Coastal Zones datasets to generate new products and to improve coastal and marine modelling: application in The Netherlands and EU Projects

- Diana Pereira (Azores Regional Government — Regional Secretariat of

Environment and Climate Change) — Potential uses of Coastal Zone cartography to support ongoing LIFE projects in an island context: the case of the Azores

- Dr Geoff Smith (Specto Natura) — Use case: Characterising areas at risk of coastal erosion —Examples from the UK

14:50-15:40 SESSION 4: Copernicus for Coastal Zones — an outlook and discussion

- Matteo Mattiuzzi (EEA) — Outlook for CLMS activities for coastal zones (20 min.) - Hans Dufourmont (EEA) — Open discussion (30 min.)

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24

5. S

UMMARY OF ATTENDANCE

Global distribution of attendees (darker colours are greater attendance).

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26

6. Q

UESTIONS AND

A

NSWERS

Questions that were not fully answered during the event are highlighted in bold.

Question Answer(s)

EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive also relevant as it brings extra environmental objectives to be met in the Water Framework Directive's coastal waters. ERG (EEA)

Pierre-Yves le Traon, who highlights from a marine perspective, may mention this, if not it could be mentioned in the discussion session at the end of the webinar

How will dynamic datasets like phenology parameters be implemented in the static data format of today’s coastal zones dataset?

This question would require a very complex reply as there are many different cases. Remaining strictly on the integration of phenology (i.e. our HR VPP product) into our CZ LC/LU dataset, it can be used to:

- Better characterise the LC/LU polygons (e.g. increasing/decreasing plant activities within a given polygon or class),

- Detect LC/LU changes,

- Increase the mapping accuracy (e.g. differentiation of grassland and agricultural area which is very difficult with single date imagery)

Similar approaches are already implemented with HRL products (e.g. IMP, TCD). These layers were used to characterise forest types and tree cover densities in LC/LU datasets. Will a recording of these presentations be

available at a later stage?

The presentations PowerPoint files will be published together with a summary of the meeting's presentation and Q&A.

What will Copernicus Marine Service do with regards to acidification? 'CO2/acidification' is mentioned in one of the diagrams of Pierre-Yves Le Traon slides but not the lists of improvements on the slides.

We are working as well on acidification and CO2 fluxes at global (see

https://marine.copernicus.eu/access- data/ocean-monitoring-indicators/global-mean-sea-water-ph) and regional scales. As far as the coastal zone is concerned, the expectation is to improve the collection and gathering of pH in situ data in cooperation with EMODnet chemistry.

What is the relationship with the JPI Ocean etc. with this work?

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27 Do you have an operational product, e.g., land

subsidence, coastal erosion at global scale?

From the land perspective we only have pan-European products (EEA38 countries + UK); land subsidence is part of the European Ground Motion Service in production; coastal erosion will - hopefully - be approved for production in Copernicus 2.0; saying that it may be useful to check with colleagues from DG JRC (Joint Research Centre), if they have a global product available, or Mercator Ocean from the marine perspective. To be followed up in writing?

How do the 71 classes of the new coastal zone product overlap with the CLC classes

exclusively?

The nomenclatures of CLC and the local component are highly aligned. CLC's 44 LCLU classes can be 'generated' from local

component LCLU by generalisation (cutting off details in the latter).

Is it possible that information of land cover can be used as an input in

meso-meteorological models (WRF for example)?

Even though meso-meteorological models are not the intended primary applications, it is likely that LC/LU data could be sufficient to describe eventual influences of LC/LU on meteorological phenomenon. In the case of CZ LC/LU we might have an unnecessary high spatial and thematic resolution on one side and an insufficient coverage (10km landwards strip) on the other side, probably CLC could be a better choice?

Please will the recording be available? No, but the presentations and a summary report will be published on the registration website.

Have you looked at the IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology for the classification system? It seems like you have ended up with very many and overlapping classes.

Land cover classes of the product are

optimised for land cover mapping and had to respect existing data sets that were mapped in the limits of coastal zone (AoI). The result is not necessarily coastal ecosystem

classification, even we tried to respect the ecosystem mapping needs.

Quel est l'intérêt de Copernicus Land

Monitoring Service pour les études des zones côtières de l'Afrique de l’Ouest ?

Il existe un produit Global Land qui couvre l'ensemble du monde, mais à une résolution moindre. En revanche dans le cadre de l'initiative GMES & Africa de l'Union Africaine et de l'UE, il y a des projets qui utilisent des données Copernicus (des satellites Sentinel) pour des applications côtières (mais surtout pour le "coté" mer)

Voir par exemple :

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28 Great detail but is there any independent

validation of the product?

Yes, this is on our agenda. But contracts are not ready at this moment. Typically, this happens with some delay after the data publication.

How effectively Copernicus Marine Service can map the coastal algae and Eutrophication process?

Answered live.

So, the Intertidal zone/flats has not been extracted in this study, but has been taken from the Corine Maps? Are there any plans to investigate the intertidal zone in more detail in the future? For your information, we have just developed intertidal zone products (Area, % of Atmospheric Exposure, Type) for the whole Norwegian coast and would be interested to contribute.

That is correct, the CZ LCLU dataset is addressing land aspects but not the high dynamicity of water-related phenomena. Thus, we decided to address them with methods which should be capable of capturing these.

Is there a registry of the 71 classes of the new coastal zone product, and where can be accessed?

There is not registry (yet), for now you can find the class definition in the mapping guidelines: https://land.copernicus.eu/user- corner/technical-library/coastal-zones-nomenclature

How can you see the Bing Map year when verifying the product?

We use a linked QGIS - Google Earth

approach. Unfortunately, Bing map reference year cannot be identified, so we use these images as support in QGIS, decision is made in GE.

Which taxonomy has been used for the LC/LU thematic maps?

We used CLMS local component basis nomenclature, which is developed on the basis of Corine Land Cover, which is evaluated as being compatible with LCCS by FAO. Verification samples are not equally

distributed along the European coast. Many more samples in Portugal - Greece - Italy than in northern part (France, Scandinavia...). How did you choose locations?

We used simple random sampling based on land cover codes or level-1 transitions.

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29 1. When will Member States be required to

carry out verification of the respective CZ_2018 maps for the CZ classes? From the last presentation it seems that no samples were not taken from Malta classification validation.

2. In the case of Malta, the 10 km inland area basically covers all the country. Hence, classification is not restricted to the coastal zone and is generic. In the case of Malta, the coastal zone definition varies from 25 m to 1 km inland. Therefore, Malta needs to ensure that this EU level of reporting will not

prejudice the national approach to the management of the coast.

3. Are future CZ products envisaged with a lower buffer zone / high spatial resolution?

1. MS verification is still being considered but is not yet decided as it depends on budget which is being discussed with DG Defis. The sample size was meant to accommodate a 'Look & feel' assessment and not a proper quantitative validation. With a sample size of only 710 randomly generated point the likelihood of having no point on Malta seems to be reasonable. Despite its size, the sample should still be sufficiently representative to draw conclusions for the entire area of 720,000 km2_{, including Malta.}

2. For the CZ LCLU, same as for all our products, we always try to maintain the generic purpose of a product. Further a key characteristic of CLMS products is the

harmonised approach across the EEA-39 area which shall allow a EEA-39 wide

comparability. CZ LCLU is a mapping product which ideally facilitates the reporting activities but has no influence on the reporting

obligations/strategy.

3. Yes, future products will focus on the intertidal and have a more detailed spatial resolution.

Okay, intertidal flats not present in Mediterranean and Black Sea (but similar classes such as sand or mudflats) but estuaries are present there and the slide also said that there are no estuaries there if I understood it correctly? ERG (EEA)

Thank you, I will check with my colleagues and correct slide if necessary.

What is the correspondence between the 71 classes of coastal zone product and those of CLC?

The nomenclatures of CLC and the local component are highly aligned. CLC's 44 LC/LU classes can be 'generated' from local

component LC/LU by generalisation (cutting off details in the latter).

To what extent are the current issues of misleading nomenclature and other misconceptions affecting the results of validation and verification processes?

We found nomenclature was OK, only some examples of mistakes were found where it was used by some interpreters not

consequently. How frequently will the data be revisited?

Also, I see a potential role in environmental monitoring of marine spatial plans and land use plans associated with strategic

environmental assessment.

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30 The shoreline is rather variable at very short

time scales (i.e., depending on tidal cycles, or on wind variability, etc...). How do you define the shoreline?

This indeed an issue that cannot be tackled sufficiently well by (static) LCLU dataset. The shoreline in the LC/LU dataset is based on the VHR satellite image used for the mapping (2012 +-1; most of it was done for the CLMS EU Hydro dataset), thus a 'random snapshot', thus the method itself is not good for this specific purpose. For the shoreline (including transitional waters) we will present our plans in Session 4.

Is it possible to get an idea of the man-hours needed to complete the project?

About 70 photo interpreters worked full time for about 1 year.

Could you please explain elevation data used? Or if not, don't you think that those would be necessary to understand coastal vulnerability?

Elevation data was not used for the

generation of this product. However, to fully understanding coastal vulnerability elevation data is indeed essential and should be used together with LC/LU information in any analytical process.

Do you consider coastal erosion a pressure for coastal habitats and species?

Yes, we perceive coastal erosion a pressure for coastal habitats. This is especially problematic in the view of climate change. Since coastal erosion is a dynamic process, it is not easy to develop an indicator, but that might be possible in the future by using some other, innovative Copernicus products. It would be useful to have a layer with the

WFD water bodies overlaid over the new coastal product.

This would be interesting indeed and for sure a clear and meaningful application of this dataset. In principle it is very much possible to intersect these files with standard GIS overlay methods. A problem that eventually

complicates the analysis is that WFD

waterbodies are waterbodies and the CZ (and equally relevant, the Riparian Zones LC/LU) are the land around these waterbodies. This means that most probably it is not a

straightforward overlay. A very interesting study. Is there any online

literature available from this study regarding the assessment methods of the various datasets for this HM study?

What was the minimum scale factor at which the photo interpreters worked? In other words, at what scale was the survey carried out?

Nominally the photo interpreters worked with a scale of 1:5000, however, very often they move to around 1:2000 for better delineation of polygons.

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31 How was the delineation of the coastline

automated & how was it verified?

In the CZ LC/LU product the coastline is derived from EU-Hydro:

https://land.copernicus.eu/imagery-in-situ/eu-hydro

The EU Hydro coastline was based on single VHR data from 2012 +-1. Within the CZ LU/LU dataset we made (1) refinement / correction of errors and (2) an update based on 2018 VHR data.

Is the coastline you indicate in the presentation extracted from the satellite images, for photointerpretation or algorithms?

The coastline used for CZ LC/LU is based on the EU-Hydro coastline which was visually delineated from VHR 2012 data and used in the status 2012 map of the CZ LC/LU dataset. The 2012 coastline was then revised for changes based on VHR 2018 data and used in the 2018 status map.

1. How much is the resolution for the

shoreline mapping in the North African areas? 2. What are the periods (decades) monitored in your model.

1. The product only covers the coasts of the 38 Member States of the European

Environment Agency + UK. It therefore does not cover North Africa.

2. Using Copernicus Sentinel open imagery, you would get a 10 m spatial resolution (while the Coastal Zones product presented in the workshop is based on higher resolution commercial imagery).

I know of a project SAFERplaces that has three pilot cities Rimini (I saw it in your slides), Cologne and Pamplona (my town), that in a simplified manner deals with coastal flooding. It would be nice to check it and share views.

https://saferplaces.co/

Thank you! I did not mention it, but of course we will consider the outcomes of other relevant EU projects (past and ongoing).

Due to Cloud coverage in Ireland, it is very hard to find clear images is there an alternative solution?

ESA provided a complete cloud free coverage of Ireland for both 2012 and 2018 reference years. We had no issue during the production with the images in Ireland.

Why don't you support the land-based vegetated solutions to sea flooding with marine vegetation protection or restoration, e.g., macroalgae (rather than artificial structures inland)?

Well, we do - have a look at the review paper I introduced as we discuss subtidal to supratidal habitats in the coastal defence paradigm. I can send you a copy?

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32 What are the exact aims of Plymouth project?

How do you think we can quantify damage to agriculture? Are you aware of any specific economic model?

This is probably one for Cally more than I but developing those (even basic) economic models is part of what she is planning to do - especially when she participates in a

placement with the funder (AXA insurance). As far as we are aware, the work done so far in this area is rather limited, but if you know differently, we would love to hear about it. You are right it is limited indeed. In fact, we

are involved in a project on flood damage with impact modellers and all the examples they came up with are relevant only to freshwater.

I think 'it's the same in the UK - lots of work on river flooding and more limited along coasts and although we have coastal

geomorphologists who predict flood / erosion risk, they never seem to want to interact with biologists

On which database are you doing bathymetry?

EMODnet for the moment. For high resolution in-situ Wadden Sea it is a national database, but EMODnet is having info, I am not sure of the resolution.

The shared pictures were of that national database, right? Not satellite based I expect.

It is satellite based. Cally will your study be generating an updated

Environmental Vulnerability Index for the Insurance Industry.

That's the plan - although Covid inevitably put Cally behind and 'it's also affected AXA's ability to interact as we hoped.

It is clear that the coastal area is very dynamic environment, and the Coastal Zones product is great as a baseline. Which platform / product would the Copernicus team /

speakers recommend for monthly monitoring of a coastal area?

This highly depends on the exact aspects you intend to monitor. LC/LU data cannot really address very high change rates as methods, costs, datatype are not well suited for it. But I expect quite some updates on Copernicus side towards monitoring dynamic phenomena within the next year(s).

I really appreciate that in this presentation Matteo Mattiuzzi underlined the complexity of the coastal area and the interlinkage with land use activities and sea. In my PhD I have been working from a planning perspective on Land-Sea Interactions - LSI in which I analysed different European coastal case studies by also using the Copernicus data.

Coastal Zones Land Cover Land Use Mapping

Copernicus Land Monitoring Service