SWOT Satellite Lake Surface Elevation and Area Measurements

SWOT Level 2 Lake Single-Pass Vector Product (SWOT_L2_HR_LakeSP_D) provides geolocated surface water measurements for lakes and unclassified water bodies from the Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn) on the SWOT satellite. Each data granule contains three ESRI shapefiles reporting water surface elevation, surface area, quality indicators, and storage change estimates for features linked to a Prior Lake Database and unassigned water bodies. The product is designed for time series analyses, hydrologic modeling, and monitoring water level and area dynamics across inland water bodies.

Use Cases

• Monitoring water level changes and surface area dynamics for time series analysis based on elevation and area attributes.
• Conducting water balance studies and reservoir management assessments using reported storage change estimates.
• Integrating satellite-observed lake features with prior lake databases for hydrological modeling based on PLD linkage.
• Assessing data quality for individual lake observations using provided uncertainty, coverage, and calibration flags.

Strengths

• Derived from high-resolution radar observations by the SWOT satellite's KaRIn instrument, a specific sensor technology.
• Provides measurements corrected for multiple geophysical effects including geoid height, solid Earth tides, and atmospheric delays.
• Includes data for both known lakes from a Prior Lake Database and unassigned water features, offering broad coverage.
• Available on multiple authoritative platforms (nasa_earthdata, datagov), indicating validation and importance.

Limitations

• Column names and specific data schema are not provided in the available metadata, limiting understanding of the full attribute set.
• Key quantitative details like dataset size, row count, and temporal coverage are unspecified across all sources.
• The license is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without further clarification on usage terms.

Provenance

Source

POCLOUD (Platform for Ocean, Cloud, and Land Observations), likely originating from NASA JPL/PO.DAAC given the SWOT mission context.

Collection Method

Derived from high-resolution radar observations collected by the Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn) on the SWOT satellite.

Freshness

Last updated on 2026-04-09 according to nasa_earthdata and datagov.

Geography

Global, covering lakes and water bodies observed during continental passes of the SWOT satellite.