Cloud probability statistics per small area in 2025 (Version 2.0)

This dataset provides the annual mean cloud probability (%) aggregated to small area geographies across the United Kingdom: Lower layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs) for England and Wales, Data Zones for Scotland, and Small Areas for Northern Ireland. The underlying source data is derived from Sentinel-2 satellite imagery processed at 20-metre spatial resolution from individual scenes covering a year using s2cloudless data from Google Earth Engine. The aggregation was performed using 2021 boundaries by calculating the weighted mean of all pixels falling within each small area geography using exact pixel-area weighting along with corrections for spatial and temporal artefacts.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Author Imago Team
Maintainer Shaonlee Patranabis
Version 2.0.0
Last Updated August 4, 2026, 14:19 (UTC)
Created July 29, 2026, 18:13 (UTC)
Size
constraints None
content 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.
crs EPSG:27700, OSGB36/British National Grid
data_quality 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.
data_source Sentinel-2
file_id SPF_LSOA_level
lineage 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.
source Imago: Data Service for Imagery
spatial_coverage United Kingdom
spatial_resolution Small area (LSOA / Data Zone / Small Area)
temporal_coverage 01-01-2025: 31-12-2025
temporal_resolution Annual