The Potential of the Copernicus Product “Imperviousness Classified Change” to Assess Soil Sealing in Agricultural Areas in Poland and Norway

Wendy Fjellstad (), Agata Hościło, Svein Olav Krøgli, Jonathan Rizzi and Milena Chmielewska
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Wendy Fjellstad: Department of Landscape Monitoring, Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO), P.O. Box 115, 1431 Ås, Norway
Agata Hościło: National Centre for Emissions Management, Institute of Environmental Protection—National Research Institute (IOŚ-PIB), 32 Slowicza St., 02-170 Warsaw, Poland
Svein Olav Krøgli: Department of Landscape Monitoring, Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO), P.O. Box 115, 1431 Ås, Norway
Jonathan Rizzi: Department of Landscape Monitoring, Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO), P.O. Box 115, 1431 Ås, Norway
Milena Chmielewska: Institute of Geodesy and Cartography (IGiK), 27 Modzelewskiego Street, 02-679 Warsaw, Poland

Land, 2025, vol. 14, issue 4, 1-14

Abstract: Many countries have goals to reduce soil sealing of agricultural land to preserve food production capacity. To monitor progress, reliable data are needed to quantify soil sealing and changes over time. We examined the potential of the Imperviousness Classified Change (IMCC) 2015–2018 product provided by the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS) to assess soil sealing in agricultural areas in Poland and Norway. We found very high overall accuracy due to the dominance of the area with no change. When we focused on areas classified as change, we found low user accuracy, with over-estimation of soil sealing. The producer accuracy was generally much higher, meaning that real cases of soil sealing were captured. This is better than under-estimation of soil sealing because it highlights areas where sealing may have occurred, allowing the user to carry out further control of this much smaller area, without having to assess the great expanse of unchanged area. We concluded that the datasets provide useful information for Europe. They are standardized and comparable across countries, which can enable comparison of the effects of policies intended to prevent soil sealing. Some distinctions between classes are not reliable, but the general information about increase or decrease is useful.

Keywords: land take; farmland; landscape change; verification; remote sensing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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