We are in the process of migrating all NASA Earth science data sites into Earthdata from now until end of 2026. Not all NASA Earth science data and resources will appear here until then. Thank you for your patience as we make this transition.
Read about the Web Unification Project
Lakes/Reservoirs Data Access and Tools
NASA has lakes and reservoirs datasets that help researchers explore the size, health and other aspects of waterbodies. Access a range of data and data tools such as AppEEARS, HEG, and the MODID/VIIRS Subsetting Tools Suite to make the most of lakes and reservoirs data.
Lakes/Reservoirs Datasets
| Dataset | Platforms | Instruments | Temporal Extent | Location Keywords | Spatial Extent | Data Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SWOT Level 2 Water Mask Raster Image Data Product, Version D | SWOT | KaRIn, Jason-class Altimeter, AMR, DORIS, GPSP, LRA | 2022-12-16 | GLOBAL | N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180 | netCDF-4 |
| SWOT Simulated Level 2 North America Continent KaRIn High Rate Water Mask Pixel Cloud Product Version 1.0 | COMPUTERS | Computer | 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-22 | NORTH AMERICA | N: 52 S: 24 E: -82 W: -113 | netCDF-4 |
| SWOT Simulated Level 2 North America Continent High Rate Lake Vectors Product Version 1.0 | COMPUTERS | Computer | 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-22 | NORTH AMERICA | N: 52 S: 24 E: -82 W: -113 | Shapefile |
| SWOT Simulated Level 2 North America Continent High Rate Raster Product Version 1.0 | COMPUTERS | Computer | 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-22 | NORTH AMERICA | N: 52 S: 24 E: -82 W: -113 | netCDF-4 |
| SWOT Simulated Level 2 North America Continent High Rate River Vectors Product Version 1.0 | COMPUTERS | Computer | 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-22 | NORTH AMERICA | N: 52 S: 24 E: -82 W: -113 | shapefile |
| SWOT Simulated Level 2 North America Continent KaRIn High Rate Pixel Cloud Vector Attribute Product Version 1.0 | COMPUTERS | Computer | 2022-08-01 to 2022-08-22 | NORTH AMERICA | N: 52 S: 24 E: -82 W: -113 | netCDF-4 |
| The Lake Observations by Citizen Scientists & Satellites (LOCSS) Level 1 Version 1.0 | FIXED OBSERVATION STATIONS | WATER LEVEL GAUGES | 2017-01-01 to 2022-05-29 | N: 53.459502 S: 11.540831 E: 92.219138 W: -123.116192 | CSV | |
| Timeseries of Arctic-Boreal Lake Area Derived from CubeSat Imagery, 2017 | SATELLITES | CAMERA | 2017-05-01 to 2017-10-01 | ALASKA, CANADA, ARCTIC | N: 70.3105 S: 52.8149 E: -89.8193 W: -149.699 | multiple |
| VIIRS/JPSS1 Water Reservoir Area 8-day L3 Global V002 | NOAA-20 | VIIRS | 2018-01-01 to Present | GLOBAL | N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180 | HDF-EOS5 |
| VIIRS/JPSS1 Water Reservoir Monthly L3 Global V002 | NOAA-20 | VIIRS | 2018-01-01 to Present | GLOBAL | N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180 | HDF-EOS5 |
SHOWING 10 OF 72
Featured Lakes/Reservoirs Observation Method: SWOT
NASA's Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) platform monitors Earth’s surface water and measures how water bodies, such as lakes and rivers, change over time. SWOTS measures water surface heights using its primary instrument, the Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn).
Recently released datasets from the SWOT mission provide scientists with previously unavailable measurements of Earth's surface water.
9 MIN READ
Hydrocron enables users to receive all Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) observations for a specific river ID within a specified date range.
A workshop hosted by NASA's Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO.DAAC) explored data and resources for working with observations from the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission.
The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) Swath Visualizer provides a visualization of two instruments’ coverage of Earth's surface: the Ka-band Radar Interferometer and altimeter.
Frequently Asked Questions
Earthdata Forum
Our online forum provides a space for users to browse thousands of FAQs about research needs, data, and data applications. You can also submit new questions for our experts to answer.
Submit Questions to Earthdata Forumand View Expert Responses