Version: 2.0.0 | Published: 29 Jul 2026 | Updated: 1 day ago
Cloud probability statistics per small area in 2022 (Version 2.0)
Dataset
Summary
Description:
The dataset contains the annual cloud probability for each small area (LSOAs in England and Wales, Data Zones in Scotland, Small Areas in Northern Ireland). This data is provided in two distinct formats: a CSV file, which contains the tabular data; and a GPKG file, a geospatial format that combines the tabular data with the boundary geometries.
Contact Point:
Documentation
Documentation:
The dataset contains the annual cloud probability for each small area (LSOAs in England and Wales, Data Zones in Scotland, Small Areas in Northern Ireland). This data is provided in two distinct formats: a CSV file, which contains the tabular data; and a GPKG file, a geospatial format that combines the tabular data with the boundary geometries.
Coverage
Spatial
Spatial Coverage:
United Kingdom
Geographical Levels:
Small area (LSOA / Data Zone / Small Area)
Temporal
Start Date:
01-01-2022: 31-12-2022
Frequency:
Annual
Date of Latest Release:
29 July 2026
Date of First Release:
29 July 2026
Provenance
Origin
Purpose:
Cloud probability estimates are derived from Sentinel-2 satellite imagery which
provides global coverage; this product focuses on the United Kingdom. Further
details on the methodology are available in the upcoming technical report. It is
important to note that the underlying input data has a spatial resolution of
20-metres, and cloud probability estimates are aggregated to small area
boundaries, which vary substantially in geographic area. Users should consult
the Sentinel-2 Data Quality Report
(https://sentinels.copernicus.eu/documents/247904/685211/Sentinel-2-L1C-Data-Quality-Report-September-2020.pdf)
for further information on known quality limitations and uncertainties in the
source imagery.
Source:
The underlying methods and source information used to construct the dataset are documented in the upcoming technical report and paper. Cloud probability is derived from Sentinel-2 Level-2A Bottom-of-Atmosphere (BOA) surface reflectance imagery, Collection 1, accessed via Google Earth Engine (https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/COPERNICUS_S2_CLOUD_PROBABILITY), covering the period 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024. Data is processed at 20-metre spatial resolution. To reduce spatial artifacts arising from urban features and algorithmic misclassification at building boundaries as well as temporal gaps between different satellite orbits, a combination of a reflective surfaces correction and a quantile mapping of high-acquisition into low-acquision pixels was performed. The small area aggregation was performed using exact pixel-area weighting to account for partial pixel-boundary intersections. All processing was conducted by the Imago Team.
Collection Situation:
Sentinel-2
Collection Status:
2.0.0
Author 1
Name Organisation:
Imago: Data Service for Imagery
Family Name Person:
Shaonlee Patranabis
Access and Governance
Usage
Data Use Requirements:
None
Format and Standards
Vocabulary Encoding Scheme:
EPSG:27700, OSGB36/British National Grid