Spatial mapping of pesticides application rate in the European Union

Our work targets mapping of pesticides application rates within the European Union at 250m spatial resolution. Source data include global estimates of pesticide inputs, high resolution crop maps and pesticide usage reported by EUROSTAT official figures. The previously published global pesticide application rates in PEST-CHEMGRIDS are used as a first guess estimate. This is then corrected 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 data quality and uncertainty through on 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. The poster will focus on key uncertainties and data gaps that constitute key challenges in the quantification of pesticides inputs.