How to Find Copernicus Information Products Through the Services Catalogue

The Copernicus services catalogue is the entry point for locating information products across the six Copernicus services: Atmosphere, Marine, Land, Climate Change, Security, and Emergency. It is described on copernicus.eu as containing "a comprehensive list of information products relevant to the various Copernicus services." Use it when you know the domain you care about but not which specific product or service holds the data you need. Note that www.copernicus.eu is now an archive site; the catalogue remains linked from it, but current news and the Image of the Day have moved to the new EU Space website.

What the catalogue covers

The catalogue is organised around the six service domains listed on the site:

Each service maintains its own product portfolio; the catalogue's role is to present them in one list so you can compare what exists before committing to a service-specific portal.

How to browse and search

1. Start from the catalogue link on the copernicus.eu homepage ("Copernicus services catalogue — Learn more").
2. Identify your domain using the six service categories above; this narrows the list before you search.
3. Read the product description for each candidate entry to confirm it matches your variable, area, and time period.
4. Follow the linked service to access the product itself — the catalogue describes products, while delivery happens through the individual service.

Expected result: a shortlist of named products, each traceable to a responsible service. The common sticking point is treating the catalogue as a data download point; it is a discovery layer, so plan one extra step to reach the actual data.

Catalogue versus thematic hubs

Thematic hubs on copernicus.eu serve a different purpose from the catalogue. Hubs are curated entry points for a cross-cutting topic, gathering relevant environmental data and products in one place:

• Health Hub — environmental data and products pertinent to physical health, mental health, and well-being
• Coastal Hub — open and free access to selected coastal Earth observation data from the Sentinel satellites and all Copernicus services
• Energy Hub — connects environmental data and Earth observations to the green energy transition
• Arctic Hub — data and information for the Arctic, with interactive maps and use cases
• Heritage Hub — a platform for monitoring and managing cultural and natural heritage sites

Choose the catalogue when you need a specific product and know your domain. Choose a hub when your question crosses domains — for example, coastal erosion work that draws on Marine and Land products together — or when you want worked examples before selecting data. The Coastal Hub explicitly states open and free access to its selection; for other products, confirm access terms on the relevant service page rather than assuming.

Practical example

Suppose you are investigating an oil or chemical spill near a coastline. A catalogue search under Marine and Emergency would surface drift-modelling and maritime surveillance products. The site's own use case on vegetable oil stranding on Finland's Hanko Peninsula shows how this plays out: authorities suspected a passing vessel's cargo tank wash and launched an investigation supported by drift modelling. Reading that use case alongside the catalogue entries tells you which product class fits the task before you request data.

Where to go next

If you arrived looking for news, the Image of the Day, or the EU Space Observer articles, those are now published on the new EU Space website, not on the archived copernicus.eu. For product discovery, stay with the catalogue and the service portals it links to; for topic-led exploration, start from the thematic hubs.