The European Environment Agency (EEA) has awarded an international consortium, with the task of the production of the upgraded EU-Hydro set of products as part of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS).

The European Environment Agency (EEA) has awarded an international consortium, consisting of the lead GAF AG and partners e-GEOS, Telespazio Ibérica, DLR and Confluvio, with the task of the production and maintenance of the upgraded EU-Hydro set of products as part of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS). 

EU-Hydro is a dataset of the European river network covering the EEA38 territory, including surface water bodies and drainage network. The production of EU-Hydro and its derived layers is coordinated by the EEA as part of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service. The EU-Hydro suite of products is intended to provide information about the physical characteristics and geographical distribution of Europe’s water bodies, including rivers, lakes and catchment areas.

The first version of EU-Hydro was created in 2012. It then underwent improvements and amendments in 2015, 2018 and 2020, to correct inconsistencies, improve the network characteristics and get closer to achieving integration with the Water Framework Directive (WFD). The product integrated data from various sources, including space-based imagery, member country reporting, and various databases – and has mostly been derived from EU DEM (European Digital Elevation Model) with a Minimum Mapping Unit of 1ha.

In order to improve the usability of EU-Hydro as a reference hydrographic dataset within the pan-European hydrological domain, a new upgrade was deemed to be necessary to fulfil the essential characteristics of a state-of-the-art reference product. This should be able to support addressing activities such as the assessment of water resources, run-off modelling and flood forecasting. New elements are also foreseen to be included within this new upgrade, such as a coastline layer and manmade structures of high relevance for a number of key policy areas such as nature restoration and climate adaptation, including barriers and protective structures.

The new EU-Hydro suite of products is expected to have a large number of applications, including for water resource management, environmental protection, infrastructure planning, risk assessment, and climate change studies. It shall also serve as a reference dataset for a variety of other CLMS products.The consortium unites extensive experience in large scale operational land cover mapping, including in the 2018 EU-Hydro update, and includes the producers of the HydroSHEDS hydrological database; this will ensure harmonised production of both products.