This data set provides an estimate of the spatial and temporal extent of surface water at 250-m resolution over nine years (2003-2011) for the African Sahel region (10-20 degrees N) using imagery from the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Water bodies were identified by a spectral analysis of MODIS vegetation indices with the aim to improve existing regional to global mapping products. This data set can be used to enhance the understanding of Earth system processes, and to support global change studies, agricultural planning, and disease prevention.

These data provide a gridded (250-m) estimate of the number of years (during 2003-2011) that a pixel was covered by water. The data are presented in a single netCDF (*.nc) file.