JRC Global Surface Water — Occurrence (EC Joint Research Centre / Google)
Where surface water shows up over 1984–2021 — a 37-year satellite frequency record of rivers, lakes, wetlands, and ponds, at 30m globally.
What this is
JRC Global Surface Water (Occurrence product, v1.4) maps how often surface water was present at each 30m pixel across 1984–2021, derived from the full Landsat 5/7/8 archive. Each pixel is a percentage: the share of valid satellite observations in which water was seen — 100% is permanent water (rivers, lakes, reservoirs, coastlines), lower values are seasonal or intermittent water. UFFDA serves it as a Mode-A map overlay: a blues ramp tiled on demand from the JRC GeoTIFFs on public Google Cloud Storage through a Titiler proxy, visible at zoom 9 and in. It's orientation context — a long-run picture of where water tends to be, not a live or this-season reading. Per-field water stats are a possible follow-up; not wired yet. Citation: Pekel et al. (2016), Nature 540:418–422 (DOI 10.1038/nature20584).
Why we surface it
Knowing where water reliably sits — a river bend, a wetland edge, a pond that's there most years — is field context that soil and crop layers can't show. As a 37-year frequency it cuts through any single wet or dry year, so it reads as the durable shape of water on the land: the places water tends to claim.
What you can do with it
Shown for commercial use. Personal, research, and nonprofit use is often more permissive — switch the verdict lens on the catalog.
- Internal / individual use
- Custom or restrictive terms — we can't auto-decode this one. Read the source agreement before using, especially for commercial use, AI training, and redistribution. When in doubt, ask the provider.
- Redistribute the data
- Custom or restrictive terms — we can't auto-decode this one. Read the source agreement before using, especially for commercial use, AI training, and redistribution. When in doubt, ask the provider.
- Republish a derivative
- Custom or restrictive terms — we can't auto-decode this one. Read the source agreement before using, especially for commercial use, AI training, and redistribution. When in doubt, ask the provider.
- Build into a private product
- Custom or restrictive terms — we can't auto-decode this one. Read the source agreement before using, especially for commercial use, AI training, and redistribution. When in doubt, ask the provider.
This decoder is a starting point, not legal advice. For commercial deployment, run the actual license terms past someone who reads them for a living.
Good to know
Occurrence is a 1984–2021 frequency, not a current or single-season reading — the percentage is share-of-satellite-looks-with-water, not depth or extent today. Informational orientation layer; not a flood map or a ground survey. Distributed under Copernicus open data terms (EC Decision 2011/833/EU) — free, no use restriction including commercial. Required attribution for published maps: 'Source: EC JRC/Google'. Publications and data products must also cite Pekel et al. (2016) Nature 540:418–422 (DOI 10.1038/nature20584). This is not a CC-BY license; the legal instrument is the EU Copernicus open access framework.
◆ Schema · Sample · Citation
No schema, sample, or citation on file for this one yet.