Pesticides application rate maps in the European Union at a 250 m spatial resolution

Our work targets mapping of pesticides application rates within the European Union at a 250 m spatial resolution. Source data include global estimates of pesticide inputs, high resolution crop maps and pesticide usage reported by EUROSTAT official figures. Previously published global pesticide application rates in PEST-CHEMGRIDS are used as first guess estimates. These are then adjusted using a calibration dataset gathered from pesticide use in agriculture. The estimation of the applied mass by country and crop type is then combined with high resolution crop maps. The procedure explicitly accounts for data quality and uncertainty through a Maximum Likelihood estimation procedure. This data product features detailed spatial distributions of pesticide inputs, facilitating evaluation of pesticide fate and transport, biogeochemical transformations as well as environmental risk assessment.