GRWL: Global River Widths from Landsat

The Global River Widths from Landsat (GRWL) Database is a geospatial vector dataset of river centerlines derived from satellite imagery. It provides summary statistics for river width, including minimum, median, mean, maximum, and standard deviation, along segments between tributary junctions. The dataset also classifies segments as rivers, lakes/reservoirs, tidal rivers, or canals.

Use Cases

• Modeling global river surface area and freshwater fluxes based on width statistics.
• Classifying and analyzing different water body types (e.g., rivers vs. reservoirs) using the lakeflag attribute.
• Validating and calibrating hydrological models with empirical width measurements from satellite data.

Strengths

• Derived from a global-scale analysis of Landsat satellite imagery, providing a planet-wide perspective.
• Includes multiple statistical measures (min, median, mean, max, sd) for river width per segment, offering a detailed characterization.
• Provides a simplified vector product designed for ease of use, reducing file size and complexity for most applications.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, dataset size, and specific last updated date are unavailable across all sources.
• The temporal coverage of the underlying Landsat imagery is not explicitly stated, limiting analysis of change over time.
• The dataset's resolution is constrained by the source Landsat imagery, which may not capture the smallest streams.

Provenance

Source

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, authored by George H. Allen.

Collection Method

Processed from Landsat satellite imagery.

Geography

Global