CORINE Land Cover Database Research Articles

Urban metabolic and airway immune profiles increase the risk of infections in early childhood

BackgroundInfections in childhood remain a leading global cause of child mortality and environmental exposures seem crucial. We investigated whether urbanicity at birth was associated with the risk of infections and...

Long-term changes of agricultural land over the last century in Romania. The showcase of Romanian plain

The current paper is a space-time analysis of agricultural land transitions in the Romanian Plain, which has been significantly impacted during the past century by the fundamental structural and functional transformations. Five maps, derived from historical cartographic materials and the recent CORINE Land Cover databases, were spatially analysed using a transition matrix procedure. The aim was to identify and measure the magnitude of the main land use/cover change flows related to agricultural lands. Furthermore, several underlying factors of the spatial and functional transformations have been discussed so as to understand the evolution of the historical agricultural lands over time. The results show that the most significant changes occurred between 1912 and 1970, when 38 % of the Romanian Plain’s surface underwent transformations, with notable regional differences. The analysis of the change flows in relation to the underlying factors was instrumental in explaining the land processes, an approach that can be used to understand future landscape transformations.

Urban Flood Modeling for Sustainability Management: Role of Design Rainfall and Land Use

This study aimed to evaluate how different methods of determining design rainfall levels and land usage affect flood hydrographs in an urban catchment; specifically, the catchment in southern Poland. The data included daily precipitation records from 1981 to 2020 and land cover information from Corine Land Cover and Urban Atlas databases for 2006 and 2018. The analysis involved examining precipitation data, determining design rainfall levels, analyzing land usage databases, exploring the influence of design rainfall levels on hydrograph characteristics, and investigating the database’s impact on these characteristics. No discernible trend in precipitation was found. The highest design rainfall values followed the GEV distribution, while the lowest followed the Gumbel distribution. Both land usage databases indicated an increasing human influence from 2006 to 2018. This study conclusively showed that the method used for estimating design rainfall and the choice of the land usage database significantly affected hydrograph characteristics. Multivariate analyses are recommended for design rainfall assessments, while the Urban Atlas database is preferred for urban catchment land usage determinations due to its detailed information.

The landscape fragmentation: analysis of land cover transformation in high mountains environment on the example of Tatra region (southern Poland)

Changes in land cover (LC) are continuously growing due to natural and human factors, and they are even occurring within protected areas. In Europe, one such place is the Tatra region (southern Poland), which is the area of the presented research. Dynamic landscape transformation in a valuable natural area can negatively affect both environmental quality and sustainable land use planning. Appropriate recommendations and treatments can be introduced to prevent negative effects. To do this, it is necessary to understand the dynamics and character of these transformations. Therefore, the purpose of the article is to analyse changes in LC, its causes and their spatiotemporal dynamics, as well as the resulting landscape fragmentation. For this purpose, a set of landscape metrics and GIS (Geographic Information System) tools were used. The main data source in the study was the CORINE Land Cover (CLC) database. The results indicate a significant landscape transformation with a negative impact on the region’s environment, even in protected areas. Landscape fragmentation, which causes disturbances in ecosystems, increased across the entire study area. In turn, in the spatial development, it can introduce chaos and spatial disorder, and lead to the phenomenon of urban sprawl.

Land Use and Land Cover Changes in Depopulated Areas of Mediterranean Europe: A Case Study in Two Inland Provinces of Spain

Depopulation often leads to the abandonment of agricultural land and the resulting process of afforestation and reforestation. In this paper, we study the land use changes between 2000 and 2018 in two Spanish provinces, Soria and Teruel. The provinces chosen as case studies are of particular interest because they have some of the lowest population densities in Europe and continue to suffer depopulation processes that have been ongoing since the mid-20th century. The reasons for this are not immediately clear given that unlike other European regions with similar population density values, for example in Northern Scandinavia, they are not exposed to extreme climatic conditions, nor are they located in isolated mountain regions. Using the CORINE Land Cover database, we observed that in both provinces, there has been an expansion in shrub and forest land uses and a decline in agriculture due largely to the fact that certain areas have been abandoned by their inhabitants, although in other parts of these provinces, the amount of land used for agriculture has increased. Urban growth over this period has been minimal. In the coming years, it seems likely that the population of these areas will continue to fall, given that the policies carried out over decades to try to revert this trend have not been successful.

Characteristics and explanation of new artificial land uses on the example of Hungarian second-tier towns

The spatial growth of cities and the examination of the appearance of new artificial surfaces have been in the focus of several studies in the last decade. Attention was primarily focused on the metropolitan areas; however, the phenomenon can also be identified in smaller towns, which – at least, in Hungary – can hardly be explained by demographic trends. Urban growth, which is identified in the Carpathian Basin as well, is of concern from a sustainability point of view, so the monitoring and exploration of driving forces is of practical importance. Using the Corine Land Cover Database, the study analyses urban growth between 1990–2018 and looks for explanatory factors to understand the phenomenon. New artificial surfaces have appeared in the surroundings of cities or directly connected to morphological urban areas. Their morphological characteristics are presented on maps and in descriptive form. Those examples are interpreted for which the changes are not related to suburbanization trends or show unique characteristics in case studies. For example, in Sopron a large proportion of new residential areas are constantly appearing, thanks to its location on the border and the multi-centered metropolitan area of Vienna–Bratislava. The role of the ring road in the growth in Veszprém or the motorway construction in Nyíregyháza also determine spatial growth. Although the research approaches the issue of urban growth primarily from the point of view of morphology and land use, policy related conclusions can also be drawn from the results.

Deep learning ancient map segmentation to assess historical landscape changes

ABSTRACT Ancient geographical maps are our window into the past for understanding the spatial dynamics of last centuries. This paper proposes a novel approach to address this problem using deep learning. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are today the state-of-the-art methods in handling a variety of problems in the fields of image processing. The Cassini map, created in the eighteenth century, is used to illustrate our methodology. This approach enables us to extract the surfaces of classes of lands in the Cassini map: forests, heaths, arboricultural, and hydrological. The evolution of land use between the end of the eighteenth century andtoday was quantified by comparison with Corine Land Cover (CLC) database. For the Rhone watershed, the results show that forests, arboriculture, and heaths are more extensive on the CLC map, in contrast to the hydrological network. These unprecedented results are new findings that reveal the major anthropo-climatic changes.

Enhancing the Urban Atlas Features with the Water Balance Estimates Using the Landsat 8 Imagery

Between climate change and anthropogenic forcing, pressure on water resources is continually increasing all over the world. The growing population is gathering more and more in cities where the artificialization of soils and urban developments of all kinds are modifying the local water cycle. However, knowledge about the hydrological cycle in urban areas is not well developed today. Urbanization in a watershed can produce significant changes to the natural water cycle, mainly because permeable soils have been covered by less permeable surfaces. The consequences of this urbanization can be significant and multiple. The assessment of urban water resources aims to provide a suitable circumstances for planning, conditions for the planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of works used for irrigation and sanitation, among other applications. The methodology of the research is based on the data collection, which includes climatic data from June 2021 to June 2022 and the use of Digital elevation model to create a hydrographic network. The second part is land use data processing to create a land cover map using maximum Likelihood Supervised Classification, by combining different band composites of Landsat 8 images and NDVI to differentiate between vegetative and non-vegetative areas. However, CORINE Land Cover database was utilized to distinguish between continuous and discontinuous urban area in this classification. The final step in the process is to determine the hydrological coefficients by calculating the water cycle parameters (Evapotranspiration Runoff and Infiltration) for each land-use class. Furthermore, establishing a link between land use and hydrological behaviour and conducting a precise calculation of water balance-related coefficients in urban areas using Urban Atlas 2018.

An Analysis of the Spatial Development of European Cities Based on Their Geometry and the CORINE Land Cover (CLC) Database.

The study demonstrated that the rate of spatial development is correlated with its fractal dimension. The presented results indicate that the fractal dimension can be a useful tool for describing different phases of urban development. Therefore, the formulated research hypothesis states that the fractal dimension of cities' external boundaries is correlated with the rate of spatial development in urban areas. The above implies that the higher the rate of spatial development, the smoother the external boundaries of urban investment. Rapidly developing cities contribute to considerable changes in land management, in particular in municipalities surrounding the urban core. Urban development processes often induce negative changes in land management and contribute to chaotic and unplanned development. To address these problems, new methods are being developed for modeling and predicting the rate of changes in transitional zones between urban and rural areas. These processes are particularly pronounced in urban space, whose expansion proceeds at an uneven pace. The aim of this study was to propose a method for describing urbanization processes that are based on the dependence between the urban growth rate, the fractal dimension, and basic geometric parameters, such as city area and the length of city boundaries. Based on the calculated changes in the values of these parameters, a classification system was proposed to identify distinctive phases of urban development. The study revealed that land cover databases are highly useful for such analyses. The study was conducted on 58 medium-size European cities with a population of up to 300,000, including France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Croatia. The study demonstrated that the fractal dimension and the basic geometric parameters of urban boundaries are significantly correlated with the rate of the spatial development of cities. The proposed indicators can be used to describe the spatial development of urban areas and the rate of urban growth. The development of the analyzed cities was modeled with the use of CORINE Land Cover (CLC) data for 2000-2006-2012-2018, acquired under the EU Copernicus program.

Correlation between catchment land use/cover and macrophyte assessment of lake ecological status

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) provides the basis for developing a system to protect and restore the aquatic environment. Macrophytes are one of the groups of organisms for determining ecological status of lakes. Using partial least squares regression (PLS-R), we showed relationships between conductivity and chlorophyll a (to a lesser extent nutrient concentrations) and Ecological State Macrophyte Index (ESMI) values. However, catchment land use/cover (LU/LC) appears to be the important factor affecting macrophyte diversity as expressed by ESMI. The presence of significant correlations was found for the catchment area determined from surface runoff using the platform SCALGO Live, based on a permanently updated numerical terrain model and an accurate land use/cover database used in Poland BDOT10k. The Corine Land Cover (CLC) database commonly used in the EU appeared to be of insufficient resolution. We have shown a high positive impact of the presence of wetlands and reservoirs in the catchment on ESMI values and negative for agricultural and urbanized areas. Obtaining information on lake catchment land use and land cover is costless. Relating LU/LC to lake macrophyte assessment methods allows this no-cost method to be included in the set of biological methods for assessing lake condition. Understanding the factors that determine the condition of lakes is fundamental to managing them according to the requirements of the WFD. The results of our study indicate that the integration of lake catchment area planning with lake water management is imperative.

Tendencies in Land Use and Land Cover in Serbia Towards Sustainable Development in 1990-2018

The overuse of natural resources by humanity in recent decades has resulted in noticeable changes environment quality. Global environmental research is particularly interested in the topics of land use change and land cover. The Republic of Serbia has a diverse spectrum of landforms, with agricultural use taking up the largest portions, followed by forestry, water, and building land. Significant anthropogenic pressures (such as mining, deforestation, urbanization, and uncontrolled land use, among other things) have harmed Serbia's natural resources over the past two decades. This study examines the causes of specific trends in land-use change in Serbia, utilizing the CORINE Land Cover (CLC) database to track temporal and spatial changes in the major categories of land use and land cover from 1990 to 2018. The authors explained that focusing on the rational use of natural resources is the only way to promote sustainable development, legal alignment with EU law, and prompt adoption of harmonized laws and planning documents across all sectors.

Land use changes of the riparian landscape in Hungary between 1990 and 2018

The protection and the restoration of rivers is one of the most important challenges of our time, due to the impact of human activities. The aim of the research was to assess the land use changes in the Hungarian riparian landscape. Several landscape corridors of different (50-100-300-500 m) widths near rivers were analyzed since 1990, using the CORINE Land Cover database. Positive changes in the land use of riparian landscape can be seen: continuous increase in the case of forest areas; and slight decrease in the extent of agricultural land since 1990. Unfortunately, the extent of grasslands and other near-natural areas is reduced; and there has been a steady increase in built-up areas. Examining the changes in built-up areas in more detail, a big increase is shown by the extent of urban green areas. As a continuation of the research, an evaluation methodology is being developed to determine the restoration potential of urban rivers on study area level and on national level. The results presented in this paper on land use changes and land use conditions can be useful for the research about restoration potential at national level.

Land Use Has Changed through the Last 200 Years in Various Production Areas of South Bohemia

This article focuses on land use changes in the area of interest in the southern part of the Czech Republic (South Bohemia Region). Land use changes have been assessed at several time levels over nearly two centuries. Unlike similar studies, two types of materials were used as source data and compared. Specifically, these are historical maps or aerial photographs and the Corine Land Cover database. The evolution of land use was examined on a representative set of sixty cadastral areas, which evenly cover the territory of three different production areas of the South Bohemia Region. Each production area was then evaluated both as a whole and separately. The paper’s results confirm the trend of decreasing the share of intensively used agricultural land (arable land), especially in worse natural conditions, like in other countries of the Central European region. An essential result of the publication was also the demonstration of the unique development of the post-1948 period when there was a significant difference in land use development between the border forage production areas and the rest of the agriculturally used parts of the region.

Land Use Changes in Peri-Urban Open Spaces of Small Towns in Eastern Hungary

Changes in land use were studied in 2 km wide peri-urban open spaces of seven small Hungarian towns as part of a RENATUR Interreg Europe (2019–2023) project. The aim of the project is to present best practices related to the sustainable and wise use of the peri-urban open spaces of small European towns. The rate and tendencies of conversion from one land use type to another were evaluated on the basis of a comparison of Corine Land Cover and Land Cover Change databases from 1990, 2000 and 2018. Land use changes in the study areas in different time periods were studied for which the Corine categories were aggregated. Subsequently, there were field verification surveys carried out between March and June of 2021. Most significant changes—due to the significant increase of built-up areas—were found in the case of the towns that were developed to form the suburbs of Debrecen, the core settlement of their region with a population of 200,000. In the case of settlements further away from the major city, the population is either stagnating or decreasing, and the size of built-up areas hardly increases. In the case of cities that are surrounded by high-quality chernozem soils with profitable agriculture, large-scale arable lands have become dominant in the border zones of the settlements, as the spatial extent of gardens, orchards and grasslands has decreased. Highly diverse and mosaic land use (dominated by small plots) is not characteristic anywhere.

Can Depopulation Stop Deforestation? The Impact of Demographic Movement on Forest Cover Changes in the Settlements of the South Banat District (Serbia)

The key problem of rural settlements in the South Banat district lasted into the 21st century through the spread of depopulated areas. Considering that settlements give a cultural landscape its basic features, that they are the main bearers of functional organization, and the hotspots of geo-spatial transformation, based on quantitative-qualitative indicators this paper analyzes the spatial-demographic determinants of the development of 94 settlements, and the impact of depopulation on the changes in the surrounding forest cover. The time span included in the analytical-statistical research of the demographic components and forest dislocation lasted from 1990 to 2018. Geo-spatial data for forest areas were taken from the Corine Land Cover database. The data obtained were then turned into visual representations, or maps, using the GIS ArcMap 10.8. software. The results indicated that total depopulation has been an ongoing, 30-years process in this area on the one hand, while the forest cover in the depopulated settlements located on the outskirts of the Deliblato sands (a special nature reserve) has decreased, and the forest cover in the depopulated settlements in the zone of the Vršac mountains has increased, on the other. These analyses are useful for obtaining more detailed insight into the state of forested areas in this part of Serbia, which is the least afforested one.

Land Cover and Vegetation Coverage Changes in the Mining Area—A Case Study from Slovakia

Dealing with landscape changes in space and time is an important activity in terms of the process of future development of the selected area. In particular, it is necessary to focus on territories that are exposed to the effects of extraction activities. The main objective of the paper was the mapping of spatio-temporal changes in the landscape in connection with the extraction of minerals due to mining activities on the landscape using satellite images and data from the Corine land cover (CLC) database in the environment of geographic information systems. The selected study area is specific to the presence of four mineral deposits (three of which are under active mining). The Rohožník-Konopiská deposit was abandoned and the area was subsequently reclaimed. The study used Corine land cover (CLC) data and Landsat 5, 7, 8 satellite images for selected years in the period 1990–2021. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was calculated for vegetation cover analysis, which was further combined with the forest spatial division units (FSDU) layer. Areas in the immediate vicinity of the open-pit mine were selected for detailed analysis of vegetation changes. Using the FSDU data, an average NDVI index value was calculated using the Zonal statistics function for each plot. The results showed that over the selected period there have been changes indicating an improvement in the landscape condition by reclamation operations at two deposits, Rohožník-Konopiská (inactive) and Sološnica-Hrabník (active). The analyzed CLC data detected the change at the Rohožník-Konopiská deposit, but the active deposit Sološnica-Hrabník was not detected in these data. The loss of vegetation on the other two deposits is mainly due to pre-mining preparatory work, which causes the removal of soil and vegetation layers.

Horizontal and vertical spatial distribution and loss of grassland in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Two databases related to grassland in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) have been used in this research-the Copernicus Grassland (GRA) and CORINE Land Cover (CLC). The data have been processed by using GIS tools, and the spatial distribution of grass vegetation in relation to three biogeographical and four elevation zones has been determined. By using the Copernicus Water and Wetness (WaW) database, an insight into the coverage of grass vegetation in wetlands has been obtained. In addition, the analysis of changes in databases determined the total amount and location of the largest grassland losses. Based on GRA database, B&H is one of the richest countries, with 22.4% of its territory covered by grassland. According to the CLC database, pastures occupy 6.3% and natural grasslands 5.6% of the territory of B&H. However, grassland is exposed to various anthropogenic and natural processes that affect its distribution, quality, functions, etc. The CLC database has been processed by extracting the grasslands (pastures and natural grasslands) and calculating their spatial coverage and changes which happened during the three six-year periods from 2000 to 2018. The trend of decreasing pasture areas and increasing natural grasslands has been noticed. The pastures are most endangered by the processes of conversion to other types of agricultural land, while natural grassland increased spatial coverage during the period 2012-2018 mostly due to the revitalization and grazing of burned areas in the region of Herzegovina. Grasslands have been particularly targeted for afforestation and cropland conversion at present.

Corine land cover change detection in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina

The structure of land cover in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and the Republic of Serbia has been constantly changing due to a number of different factors. The war profoundly influenced life, particularly the socio-economic structure, which furthermore has a meaningful impact on current land cover. In this research CORINE land cover (CLC) databases are used (from 2000 to 2018) for analysis and comparison of land cover in the aforementioned countries. The analysis is conducted by ArcGIS Pro 2.9.0 software to interpret changes in land cover over the period 2000-2018. The result showed that in the period from 2000 to 2018 agricultural land has a trend of a significant decrease in both countries. In addition, artificial surfaces enlarged their surface, especially to the detriment of all agricultural categories which is directly linked with the process of the post-war reconstruction of the countries. In this paper, land cover changes in Serbia and BiH that occurred during the period 2000-2018 are analyzed and presented in graphical forms. The results show that the period 2000-2006 has undergone the most intense changes. A total of 1,223.14 km2 of agricultural land was transferred to other types of land cover in Serbia in the period 2000-2006 while in BiH it amounted to 1,045.76 km2 . Most of these changes can be attributed to the past war and its implications, but also to the challenges of the current economic situation. The CLC database established in this way serves as a necessary framework for providing information on vulnerable ecosystems and habitats, as well as a basis for regional spatial planning, natural resource inventory and environmental monitoring.

Estimating recent forest losses in Bosnia and Herzegovina by using the Copernicus and Corine land cover databases

The analysis of data from the first two decades of the 21st century shows that the area under forests in Bosnia and Herzegovina is gradually decreasing. In order to gain a detailed insight into this process, the paper will analyse the forest databases of the European satellite monitoring program Copernicus. This program, among other things, monitors the condition of forests in 39 European countries by using the High Resolution Layer (HRL). The HRL Forests database consists of 3 types of (status) products, and additional change products. The status products are available for the reference years 2012, 2015, and 2018. The status layers provide information on the Dominant Leaf Type and the Tree Cover Density at pixel level for the reference year 2018 in 10 m resolution. The Forest Type layer largely follows the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) forest definition. Also, the paper will use the data on forests from the CORINE Land Cover project for 2000, 2006, 2012 and 2018. The time-series includes a land change layer, highlighting changes in land cover and land use. The CLC Changes database will be analysed separately for three periods: 2000-2006, 2006-2012 and 2012-2018, due to more accurate data on forest losses. The results of the research show that forests in Bosnia and Herzegovina were reduced by 2.95%, in the period 2012-2018, where 2.55% of them were coniferous. Forests are primarily endangered by the process of conversion to transitional forest / shrub and fires.

Application of spatial- and diachronic-process analysis of landscape development in Central Lika, Croatia from 1980 to 2012

The paper presents structural features and the process and intensity of landscape changes in the Central Lika Region of Croatia, in the transitional, post-socialist and post-war periods (1980–2012). The aim of this paper is to analyse regularities and interrelations between the changes in structural features and the intensity of the processes that cause change. By using GIS spatial analysis methods, the shape, position, and condition of landscape patches were defined for each year. The diachronic process analysis, with the application of a specially-developed index — the Landscape Development Index (di) — made it possible to determine the intensity of development of individual landscape elements. The landscape was observed using the concept of Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) and, for this purpose, data from the CORINE Land Cover database were used for 1980 and 2012. The results showed fragmentation and an increase in the number and complexity of patches, as well as a decrease of the core patch area. Consequently, the increase of the share of edge areas has increased vulnerability to external influences and changes. Applying the Landscape Development Index (di) showed advantages compared to a standard comparison of the two conditions or synthetic indices, enabling the intensity of each observed phenomenon/process to be determined, and allowing for deeper spatial and temporal analysis as well as better understanding of landscape development.