ASTER Global Water Bodies Database V001

The 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 (https://doi.org/10.5067/ASTER/AST_L1A.003) 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 waterbodies, 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.

Data and Resources

Field Value
accessLevel public
bureauCode {026:00}
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catalog_@id https://data.nasa.gov/data.json
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citation NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team. 2019-08-05. ASTWBD.001. ASTER Global Water Bodies Database V001. Archived by National Aeronautics and Space Administration, U.S. Government, NASA EOSDIS Land Processes DAAC. https://doi.org/10.5067/ASTER/ASTWBD.001. https://doi.org/10.5067/ASTER/ASTWBD.001. The DOI landing page provides citations in APA and Chicago styles..
creator NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team
graphic-preview-description Browse image for Earthdata Search
graphic-preview-file https://e4ftl01.cr.usgs.gov//WORKING/BRWS/Browse.001/2019.07.01/ASTWBDV001_N04E006.1.jpg?_ga=2.58926639.344140723.1565008229-1371303444.1563801461
identifier C1575734433-LPDAAC_ECS
issued 2011-08-24
landingPage https://doi.org/10.5067/ASTER/ASTWBD.001
language {en-US}
metadata_type geospatial
modified 2015-09-30
programCode {026:001}
publisher LP DAAC
resource-type Dataset
series-name ASTWBD.001
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash f5e6c67a687dcd1da46ebed48df50d839ef2553b
source_schema_version 1.1
spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-180.0, -83.0], [180.0, -83.0], [180.0, 82.0], [-180.0, 82.0], [-180.0, -83.0]]]}
temporal 2000-03-01T00:00:00Z/2013-11-30T23:59:59.999Z
theme {Terra,geospatial}
Groups
  • AmeriGEOSS
  • National Provider
  • North America
Tags
  • amerigeo
  • amerigeoss
  • ckan
  • earth-science
  • geo
  • geoss
  • land-surface
  • national
  • national-geospatial-data-asset
  • ngda
  • north-america
  • topography
  • united-states
isopen False
license_id notspecified
license_title License not specified
maintainer undefined
maintainer_email lpdaac@usgs.gov
metadata_created 2025-11-23T00:40:01.524315
metadata_modified 2025-11-23T00:40:01.524320
notes The 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 (https://doi.org/10.5067/ASTER/AST_L1A.003) 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 waterbodies, 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.
num_resources 7
num_tags 13
title ASTER Global Water Bodies Database V001