10m Seasonal Local Climate Zone (LCZ) Maps for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region and Eight Global Cities (2017-2024)

Overview This dataset contains the 10-meter high-resolution seasonal Local Climate Zone (LCZ) classification maps (2017-2024) generated in our study. It covers the core experimental region of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) urban agglomeration in China, alongside eight global target cities spanning diverse climate zones (Berlin, Brisbane, Cairo, Hong Kong, Lagos, Murmansk, New York, and Sao Paulo). Scientific Background The Local Climate Zone (LCZ) classification system provides a standardized framework for characterizing urban morphology and thermal properties. However, prevailing implementations rely predominantly on static, annual-based mapping that fails to capture intra-annual phenological variations. To bridge this gap, this dataset was produced using a novel seasonal LCZ mapping framework that integrates Google AlphaEarth Foundations (AEF) embeddings and Hidden Markov Models (HMM). By enforcing physically plausible stability for built-up classes while allowing phenology-consistent transitions for natural classes, these seasonal products successfully mitigate classification flicker and effectively recover missing phenological states (e.g., winter/spring snow cover in high latitudes, and summer bare soil transitions). Dataset Specifications Spatial Resolution: 10 meters Temporal Coverage: 2017 - 2024 Temporal Resolution: Seasonal (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter) Data Format: GeoTIFF (.tif) Coordinate System: WGS 84 (EPSG:4326) Data License This dataset is provided under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. You are free to share and adapt the material for any purpose, even commercially, provided that appropriate credit is given to the original authors and the source is cited. Code and Interactive Visualization Source Code: The complete methodology and data processing codes are open-sourced on our GitHub repository: https://github.com/ligary3/Seasonal-LCZ-Mapping Interactive App: To explore the dynamic seasonal classification results without downloading the data, please visit our Google Earth Engine (GEE) App: https://ee-l2892786691.projects.earthengine.app/view/global-seasonal-lcz-explorer