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Full catalog/SWOT_L2_HR_RiverSP_2.0
SWOT_L2_HR_RiverSP_2.0·v2.0·dataset

River water height, width and flow (SWOT)

SWOT Level 2 River Single-Pass Vector Data Product, Version C
hydrosphere NASA POCLOUD Level 2 Shapefile
In plain English

What it measures. For rivers worldwide, the water surface height, slope, width, and estimated flow (discharge). Values are given for roughly 10-km river stretches and points about every 200 meters along them.

How it's made. Derived from the Ka-band radar interferometer on the NASA/CNES SWOT satellite, matched to a prior river database and delivered as map-ready vector files (shapefiles).

How & where you'd use it. Lets scientists and water managers monitor how much water rivers carry and how their levels change, important for flood and freshwater studies.

What's measured

TERRESTRIAL HYDROSPHERE › SURFACE WATER › STAGE HEIGHTTERRESTRIAL HYDROSPHERE › SURFACE WATER › SURFACE WATER FEATURES › RIVERS/STREAMSTERRESTRIAL HYDROSPHERE › SURFACE WATER › SURFACE WATER PROCESSES/MEASUREMENTS › TOTAL SURFACE WATERTERRESTRIAL HYDROSPHERE › SURFACE WATER › SURFACE WATER PROCESSES/MEASUREMENTS › DISCHARGE/FLOW

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
  • FormatsShapefile
  • 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

The SWOT Level 2 River Single-Pass Vector Data Product from the Surface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission provides water surface elevation, slope, width, and discharge derived from the high rate (HR) data stream from the Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn). SWOT launched on December 16, 2022 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California into a 1-day repeat orbit for the "calibration" or "fast-sampling" phase of the mission, which completed in early July 2023. After the calibration phase, SWOT entered a 21-day repeat orbit in August 2023 to start the "science" phase of the mission, which is expected to continue through 2025. Water surface elevation, slope, width, and discharge are provided for river reaches (approximately 10 km long) and nodes (approximately 200 m spacing) identified in the prior river database, and distributed as feature datasets covering the full swath for each continent-pass. These data are generally produced for inland and coastal hydrology surfaces, as controlled by the reloadable KaRIn HR mask. The dataset is distributed in ESRI Shapefile format. Please note that this collection contains SWOT Version C science data products. This dataset is the parent collection to the following sub-collections: https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/dataset/SWOT_L2_HR_RiverSP_node_2.0 https://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/dataset/SWOT_L2_HR_RiverSP_reach_2.0

Get the data

swot_l2_hr_riversp_2.0_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="SWOT_L2_HR_RiverSP_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.