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Full catalog/SWOT_L2_HR_PIXC_2.0
SWOT_L2_HR_PIXC_2.0·v2.0·dataset

Detailed map of where water sits on land (SWOT)

SWOT Level 2 Water Mask Pixel Cloud Data Product, Version C
hydrosphere NASA POCLOUD Level 2 netCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. A detailed point-by-point map of where water sits on land, marking each water pixel with its height, radar brightness, and quality flags.

How it's made. Produced from the SWOT satellite's water-detection radar as a 'pixel cloud' covering roughly 64 km tiles on one side of the swath, delivered as netCDF files.

How & where you'd use it. Lets scientists map rivers, lakes, and floods in fine spatial detail. As a low-level product, many users will reach it through higher-level river and lake datasets built from it.

What's measured

TERRESTRIAL HYDROSPHERE › SURFACE WATER › SURFACE WATER FEATURES › RIVERS/STREAMSTERRESTRIAL HYDROSPHERE › SURFACE WATER › SURFACE WATER PROCESSES/MEASUREMENTSTERRESTRIAL HYDROSPHERE › SURFACE WATER › SURFACE WATER FEATURES › LAKES/RESERVOIRS

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2022-12-16 → ongoing
  • Measured bySWOT (KaRIn, Jason-class Altimeter, AMR, DORIS, GPSP, LRA)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsnetCDF-4
  • StatusSUPERSEDED

What you can do with it

  • Follow rainfall, floods and surface-water extent
  • Track soil moisture and the onset of drought
  • Monitor lakes, rivers and groundwater storage
Official description

Point cloud of water mask pixels (“pixel cloud”) with geolocated heights, backscatter, geophysical fields, and flags. Point cloud over tile (approx 64x64 km2); half swath (left or right side of full swath). Available in netCDF-4 file format. Please note that this collection contains SWOT Version C science data products.

Get the data

swot_l2_hr_pixc_2.0_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="SWOT_L2_HR_PIXC_2.0",
    version="2.0",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from POCLOUD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.