COPERNICUS KNOWLEDGE AND INNOVATION HUBS

The aim of this study is to relate the potential of land for a particular use in a given region with the actual land use. To this aim, the impact of several land cover flows related to urban development on soils with good, average, and poor production potentials were assessed and mapped. Thus, the amount and quality (potential for agricultural production) of agricultural land lost between the years 2000 and 2006 and the regions with major impact (hot spots) in Europe were identified.

Since tens of years perturbations have been observed in the ionosphere prior to earthquakes (between a few hours and a few days before). But the mechanism to understand how the earthquake preparation in a seismic area can induce a change in the ionosphere is the subject of intense debate. In this paper we present various atmospheric and ionospheric perturbations observed prior to large earthquakes in order to support a model of coupling between the lithosphere, the atmosphere, and the ionosphere.