Skip to main content

Description

The Terra Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Global Water Bodies Database (ASTWBD) Version 1 data product provides global coverage of water bodies larger than 0.2 square kilometers at a spatial resolution of 1 arc second (approximately 30 meters) at the equator, along with associated elevation information.

The ASTWBD data product was created in conjunction with the ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model (ASTER GDEM) Version 3 data product by the Sensor Information Laboratory Corporation (SILC) in Tokyo. The ASTER GDEM Version 3 data product was generated using ASTER Level 1A scenes acquired between March 1, 2000, and November 30, 2013. The ASTWBD data product was then generated to correct elevation values of water body surfaces.

To generate the ASTWBD data product, water bodies were separated from land areas and then classified into three categories: ocean, river, or lake. Oceans and lakes have a flattened, constant elevation value. The effects of sea ice were manually removed from areas classified as oceans to better delineate ocean shorelines in high latitude areas. For lake water bodies, the elevation for each lake was calculated from the perimeter elevation data using the mosaic image that covers the entire area of the lake. Rivers presented a unique challenge given that their elevations gradually step down from upstream to downstream; therefore, visual inspection and other manual detection methods were required.

The geographic coverage of the ASTWBD extends from 83°N to 83°S. Each tile is distributed in GeoTIFF format and referenced to the 1984 World Geodetic System (WGS84)/1996 Earth Gravitational Model (EGM96) geoid. Each data product is provided as a zipped file that contains an attribute file with the water body classification information and a DEM file, which provides elevation information in meters.

Version Description

Version 1

Product Summary

Platforms
Terra
Instruments
ASTER
Spatial Extent
N: 82 S: -83 E: 180 W: -180
Spatial Resolution
30 Meters x 30 Meters
Geographic Region
GLOBAL LAND
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
2000-03-01 to 2013-11-30
Temporal Resolution
Varies
Data Partner
Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC)
ASTER, JET PROPULSION LABORATORY, NASA (NASA/JPL/ASTER)
Concept ID
C1575734433-LPDAAC_ECS
Data State
COMPLETE
Processing Level
3
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Terrain Elevation,
Digital Elevation/Terrain Model (DEM),
Topographical Relief Maps,
Surface Water Features

Citation

Citation is critically important for dataset documentation and discovery. This dataset is openly shared, without restriction, in accordance with the EOSDIS Data Use and Citation Guidance.

Copy Citation

NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team. (2019). ASTER Global Water Bodies Database V001 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/ASTER/ASTWBD.001 Date Accessed: 2025-10-21

Documents

SHOWING 1 OF 1

Publications Citing This Dataset

Filters
Title Year Author
Computer model of Tsunami vulnerability using machine learning and multispectral satellite imagery Prasetyo, S. Y. J.
Surface flooding as a key driver of groundwater arsenic contamination in Southeast Asia Connolly, C. T.
Satellite detection of surface water extent—A review of methodology Li, J.
Measuring the deflection of the vertical via local reference point surveying and pointing calibration of a VLBI telescope—A case study at the Urumqi station Zhang, Z.
High-resolution topography of the Antarctic Peninsula combining the TanDEM-X DEM and Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica (REMA) mosaic Dong, Y.
Analysis of groundwater system characteristic in the Badain Jaran desert and its causes based on GF-2 satellite remote sensing data Peng, He
Error characteristics of pan-arctic digital elevation models and elevation derivatives in Northern Sweden Karlson, M.
Measuring the state and temporal evolution of glaciers in Alaska and Yukon using synthetic-aperture-radar-derived (SAR-derived) 3D time series of glacier surface flow Samsonov, S.
Development of smoothed particle hydrodynamics for simulation of flow and contaminant transport on natural urban terrain and streams Lye, X. Y.
Mapping and quantifying land cover dynamics using dense remote sensing time series with the user-friendly pyNITA software Alonzo, M.
SHOWING 10 OF 14

Variables

Variables are a set of physical properties whose values determine the characteristics or behavior of something. For example, temperature and pressure are variables of the atmosphere. Parameters and variables can be used interchangeably. Variable level attributes provide individual information for each variable.

The Science Data Set (SDS) Name in this table is the variable name. Fill value indicates missing or undefined data points in a variable. Valid range is the range of values the variable can store. Scale factor is used to increase or decrease the size of an object and can be used to correct for distortion. For questions on a specific variable, please use the Earthdata Forum.

Name Description Units Data Type Fill Value Valid Range Scale Factor
att Classification of water body attribute Class uint8 N/A N/A to 3 N/A
dem Elevation Meters int16 -9999 -9999 to 9000 N/A
You're viewing 2 of 2