JRC Global Surface Water Mapping Layers, v1.0 (JRC/GSW1_0/GlobalSurfaceWater)

Version v1.0

This dataset contains maps of the location and temporal
distribution of surface water from 1984 to 2015 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 3,066,102 scenes from Landsat
5, 7, and 8 acquired between 16 March 1984 and 10 October 2015.
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,
2000-2015) for change detection.

This mapping layers product consists of 1 image containing 7 bands.
It maps different facets of the spatial and temporal distribution of
surface water over the last 32 years. Areas where water has
never been detected are masked.

NameDescriptionGee Unit
occurrenceThe frequency with which water was present.%
change_absAbsolute change in occurrence between two epochs: 1984-1999 vs 2000-2015. %
change_normNormalized change in occurrence. (epoch1-epoch2)/(epoch1+epoch2) * 100%
seasonalityNumber of months water is present.
recurrenceThe frequency with which water returns from year to year.%
transitionCategorical classification of change between first and last year.
max_extentBinary image containing 1 anywhere water has ever been detected.

Providers

EC JRC / Google (producer, licensor)
Google Earth Engine (host)
STAC Version 0.6.0
Keywords geophysical, google, jrc, landsat_derived, surface, water
License proprietary
Temporal Extent 3/15/1984, 4:00:00 PM - 10/17/2015, 5:00:00 PM
Citation 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](https://doi.org/10.1038/nature20584))
Type image
GSD metersm