This dataset contains maps of the location and temporal
distribution of surface water from 1984 to 2020 and provides
statistics on the extent and change of those water surfaces.
For more information see the associated journal article: High-resolution
mapping of global surface water and its long-term changes
(Nature, 2016) and the online Data Users Guide.
These data were generated using 4,453,989 scenes from Landsat
5, 7, and 8 acquired between 16 March 1984 and 31 December 2020.
Each pixel was individually classified into water / non-water
using an expert system and the results were collated into a monthly
history for the entire time period and two epochs (1984-1999,
2000-2020) for change detection.
The Monthly Recurrence collection contains 12 images: monthly measures of
the seasonality of water based on the occurrence values detected in that
month over all years.
Bands
Pixel Size 30 meters
Bands
Name
Units
Min
Max
Pixel Size
Description
monthly_recurrence
%
0
100
meters
The recurrence value expressed as a percentage for this month.
has_observations
meters
A flag to indicate if the month has observations.
Bitmask for has_observations
Bit 0: Observations for the month.
0: No valid observations
1: At least 1 valid observation was available
Image Properties
Image Properties
Name
Type
Description
month
DOUBLE
Month
Terms of Use
Terms of Use
All data here is produced under the Copernicus Programme and is provided
free of charge, without restriction of use. For the full license
information see the Copernicus Regulation.
Publications, models, and data products that make use of these datasets
must include proper acknowledgement, including citing datasets and the
journal article as in the following citation.
If you are using the data as a layer in a published map, please include the
following attribution text: 'Source: EC JRC/Google'
Citations
Citations:
Jean-Francois Pekel, Andrew Cottam, Noel Gorelick, Alan S. Belward,
High-resolution mapping of global surface water and its long-term changes.
Nature 540, 418-422 (2016). (doi:10.1038/nature20584)
This dataset contains maps of the location and temporal distribution of surface water from 1984 to 2020 and provides statistics on the extent and change of those water surfaces. For more information see the associated journal article: High-resolution mapping of global surface water and its long-term changes (Nature, 2016) and …
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],[],[[["This dataset, now superseded by a newer version, provides monthly maps of global surface water occurrence from 1984 to 2020, derived from Landsat imagery."],["It includes data on the location, distribution, extent, and change of surface water over time, with monthly recurrence calculated as a percentage."],["Each pixel is classified as water or non-water, and the dataset is available for research, education, and non-profit use under the Copernicus Programme."],["Users are encouraged to acknowledge the dataset and cite the associated journal article in publications, models, and data products that utilize it."],["For the latest and most up-to-date surface water data, please refer to the JRC/GSW1_4/MonthlyRecurrence dataset."]]],["This dataset, derived from Landsat 5, 7, and 8 imagery (1984-2020), maps surface water's location and temporal distribution. It uses 4,453,989 scenes to classify each pixel as water or non-water, compiling a monthly history. The dataset provides statistics on water surface extent and changes, offering monthly measures of water seasonality through recurrence values. It includes information about if observations are made each month. The data is freely available under the Copernicus Programme.\n"]]
