Wetland Use Intensity (WUI) Dataset for European Wetlands in coastal zones

The Wetland Use Intensity (WUI) dataset for the year 2023 quantifies land use pressure within wetland areas across European coastal zones. The intensity index is derived from multi-temporal Sentinel-2 imagery using a modified version of the Mean Absolute Spectral Dynamics (MASD) algorithm (Franke et al., 2012), modified for consistent time-series analysis. The dataset expresses wetland use intensity as continuous values between 400 and 3000, which needs to be devided by 100 to retrieve mean daily MASD values. A complementary surface water dynamics layer was generated, derived from Sentinel-1 time series in 2023, which was used to account for hydrological variability within wetland areas. Regularly inundated areas are assigned the value 400. Areas and pixels with an insufficient time series availability are labeled by the value 1.

Each raster is provided in GeoTIFF format at 10 m spatial resolution, in Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area projection (EPSG:3035), tiled to the EEA 100 km reference grid. These data sets are provided in three layers that show the wetland use intensity within the boundaries of 1. EEA's Extended Wetland Ecosystems Layer, 2. RAMSAR Sites and 3. ALFAwetlands' European Wetland Map.

The dataset supports monitoring of land use pressures on wetlands, restoration planning, and policy indicator development within the RESTORE4Cs framework. RESTORE4Cs is funded by the European Union under Horizon Europe.