The EUMETSAT Satellite Application Facility for Land Surface Analysis (LSA SAF) announces the release of a new EPS Ten-Day Vegetation Parameters Data Record, fully consistent with the operational near-real-time (NRT) EPS Ten-Day vegetation products. The data record includes Fractional Vegetation Cover (ETFVC-R, LSA-455), Leaf Area Index (ETLAI-R, LSA-456) and Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (ETFAPAR-R, LSA-457), and provides global coverage from 2007 to 2021.

This new data record substantially extends the temporal coverage of the EPS vegetation archive, which was previously available only from 2015 onwards, corresponding to the start of NRT production. The extended archive benefits from improved handling of missing data in the EPS-Metop/AVHRR radiance inputs and takes advantage of the advances introduced with the ETAL-R surface albedo dataset (LSA-152), which offers enhanced atmospheric correction and improved temporal consistency.

Key features of the new data record include:

• Extended Coverage: ETFVC-R, ETLAI-R, and ETFAPAR-R now cover the period 2007-2021, enabling long-term analyses of vegetation dynamics at the global scale.
• Accuracy and Quality: An extensive evaluation against satellite-based and in situ reference datasets demonstrates overall good product quality, high long-term stability, and satisfactory accuracy at both global and regional scales.
• Consistency with NRT Data: The enhanced EPS vegetation products are fully consistent and unbiased with respect to the ongoing NRT products, enabling their complementary use to extend the time series up to the present and allowing users to combine both datasets for long-term environmental analysis.

Further information can be found on the LSA SAF vegetation product page and in the products documentation.

Applications and Showcase Study

The EPS Ten-Day Vegetation Parameters Data Record is a valuable resource for a wide range of applications, including agriculture, forestry, hydrology, and natural hazard assessment. As an illustrative example, a case study over East Africa demonstrates the capability of the ETFAPAR-R record to characterize large-scale vegetation anomalies and their regional impacts.

In 2011, the Horn of Africa faced a severe drought driven by a strong La Niña event, which resulted in a drastic rainfall deficit. Figure 1 presents the FAPAR anomaly during this period, which captures the decline in photosynthetic activity, revealing a clear spatial correspondence between the lack of precipitation and a significant decline in vegetation health across the region.

Thanks to the extended coverage from 2007 to the present, researchers can now integrate these vegetation parameters into long-term climate impact assessments. This provides a consistent baseline to analyze major historical events, such as the 2011 drought, alongside current conditions. This highlights the record's value for drought monitoring and supporting food security Early Warning Systems (EWS).

Fig. 1: ETFAPAR-R anomalies over East Africa for the 2010–2011 period along with annual precipitation anomalies (2007–Present) for the corresponding region, showing the critical deficit during the drought event.