SAFARI 2000 Global Hydrographic Data for Southern Africa

NASA's Global Hydrographic dataset (GGHYDRO) Release 2.2 provides a 1-degree resolution global map of surface water and terrain features, subset for southern Africa. It consists of 19 distinct data files categorizing land cover, water bodies, drainage basins, and ice/water runoff. The dataset is available in both ASCII GRID and binary image file formats.

Use Cases

• Classifying land cover types such as exposed land (LAND), wetlands (SWMP), sand dunes (DUNE), and salt flats (SFLT).
• Mapping perennial (FRIV) and intermittent (IRIV) river networks and freshwater lakes (FLAK).
• Analyzing major (BAS1) and smaller (BAS2) drainage basin boundaries for watershed studies.
• Estimating annual surface water runoff (RNOF in kg/m**2/yr) and its associated error (RNER).
• Studying cryosphere features including glacier ice extent (GLAC) and ice runoff (RICE).

Strengths

• Provides a detailed breakdown of 19 distinct hydrographic and terrain categories for global analysis.
• Offers data at a consistent 1-degree by 1-degree spatial resolution for the entire Earth's surface.
• Available in multiple interoperable formats (ASCII GRID and binary image) for different analytical tools.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific license terms are not provided across platforms.
• There is a conflict in the 'last updated' date: one source lists 2026-03-12, while another lists 1990-01-01.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Derived from the Global Hydrographic data set (GGHYDRO) Release 2.2, subset for the SAFARI 2000 campaign region.

Time Range

null

Freshness

2026-03-12 22:17:10.936090

Geography

Global data, subset for southern Africa.