Primary tabs

Temporary Dataset Download: LS-factor (Slope Length and Steepness factor) for the EU

Dataset Access Expires on

29-January-2026

Notifications

  1. The data provided has been prepared for use by internal research activities in the Land Resource Management Unit (Institute for Environment & Sustainability, JRC Ispra) in the context of developing the new Soil Loss Map of Europe .
  2. The data were developed for research purposes of the JRC (European Commission). The JRC does not accept any liability whatsoever for any error, missing data or omission in the data, or for any loss or damage arising from its use. The JRC agrees to provide the data free of charge but is not bound to justify the content and values contained in the databases.
  3. The permission to use the data specified above is granted on condition that, under NO CIRCUMSTANCES are these data passed to third parties. They can be used for any purpose, including commercial gain.
  4. The user agrees to: 
       a) Make proper reference to the source of the data when disseminating the results to which this agreement relates; 
       b) Participate in the verification of the data (e.g. by noting and reporting any errors or omissions discovered to the JRC).

LS-Factor

The European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC) developed a new pan-European high-resolution soil erosion assessment to achieve a better understanding of the spatial and temporal patterns of soil erosion in Europe. The LS-calculation was performed using the original equation proposed by Desmet and Govers (1996) and implemented using the System for Automated Geoscientific Analyses (SAGA), which incorporates a multiple flow algorithm and contributes to a precise estimation of flow accumulation. The LS-factor dataset was calculated using a high-resolution (25 m) Digital Elevation Model (DEM) for the whole European Union, resulting in an improved delineation of areas at risk of soil erosion as compared to lower-resolution datasets.

Title: Slope Length and Steepness factor (LS-factor)
Description: The LS-calculation was performed using the original equation proposed by Desmet and Govers (1996) and implemented using the System for Automated Geoscientific Analyses (SAGA), which incorporates a multiple flow algorithm and contributes to a precise estimation of flow accumulation. 
Spatial coverage: European Union (28 Countries) 
Pixel size: 25m and 100m
Measurement Unit: Dimensionless 
Projection: ETRS89 Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area 

Information: Panos Panagos, Pasquale Borrelli, Katrin Meusburger* 
European Commission, Institute of Environment and Sustainability, Land Resource Management Unit AND *Institute of Environmental Geosciences, University of Basel

References: 
A complete description of the methodology and the application in Europe is described in the paper: 
Panagos, P., Borrelli, P., Meusburger, K. (2015) A New European Slope Length and Steepness Factor (LS-Factor) for Modeling Soil Erosion by Water. Geosciences, 5: 117-126.

 

Data

The LS-factor dataset is in Raster format. The public user can download 2 different resolution datasets : 
a) European LS-factor map at 100m resolution (2.6 GB) 
b) LS-factor map at 25m resolution per country. (below) 

  • Austria: AT (0.7 GB)
  • Belgium: BE (0.3 GB)
  • Bulgaria: BG (1.0 GB)
  • Cyprus: CY (0.1 GB)
  • Czech Republic: CZ (0.7 GB)
  • Germany: DE (3.1 GB)
  • Denmark: DK (0.4 GB)
  • Estonia: EE (0.4 GB)
  • Spain: ES (4.3 GB)
  • Finland: FI (2.5 GB)
  • France: FR (5.3 GB)
  • Greece: GR (1.2 GB)
  • Croatia: HR (0.5 GB)
  • Hungary: HU (0.8 GB)
  • Ireland: IE (0.6 GB)
  • Italy: IT (2.6 GB)
  • Lithuania: LT (0.6 GB)
  • Luxembourg: LU (0.02 GB)
  • Latvia: LV (0.6 GB)
  • Malta: MT (0.01 GB)
  • Netherlands: NL (0.3 GB)
  • Poland: PL (2.7 GB)
  • Portugal: PT (0.8 GB)
  • Romania: RO (2.1 GB)
  • Sweden: SE (3.6 GB)
  • Slovenia: SI (0.2 GB)
  • Slovakia: SK (0.5 GB)
  • United Kingdom: UK (2.1 GB)


Rainfall erosivity

Panagos, P., Borrelli, P., Meusburger, K. (2015) A New European Slope Length and Steepness Factor (LS-Factor) for Modeling Soil Erosion by Water. Geosciences, 5: 117-126.

Joint Research Centre - European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC)
ID 123887
Date - Time Thu, 01/15/2026 - 15:11
Name of User Kaveh Hoorfar
Organization University of Genova
Type of Organization University
-- Other
E-mail kaveh.hoorfar@gmail.com
Purpose I have to carry out GIS modelling
Notes

When making reference to the ESDAC

  • Panagos, P., Van Liedekerke, M., Borrelli, P., Köninger, J., Ballabio, C., Orgiazzi, A., Lugato, E., Liakos, L., Hervas, J., Jones, A.  Montanarella, L. 2022. European Soil Data Centre 2.0: Soil data and knowledge in support of the EU policies. European Journal of Soil Science, 73(6), e13315. DOI: 10.1111/ejss.13315
  • Panagos P., Van Liedekerke M., Jones A., Montanarella L., “European Soil Data Centre: Response to European policy support and public data requirements”; (2012) Land Use Policy, 29 (2), pp. 329-338. doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2011.07.003
  • European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC), esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu, European Commission, Joint Research Centre