Surface Water Mapping Tool

The Surface Water Mapping Tool was initially developed to document the historical dynamics of seasonal flooding cycles on the Mekong River in order to better understand some of the likely impacts of completed and proposed dams. This tool can also be used to assess flood risk for disaster preparedness and identify areas of permanent water, which is valuable in the context of severe drought response. This tool has numerous other water resources management applications.

Surface water distribution changes over space and time. These patterns can provide insight into ecological structure and function, patterns of flooding and flood risk, and the impacts of infrastructure and climate change on landscapes and hydrological systems. However, such patterns have been difficult to track and measure over large areas and longer time spans. With increased access to large volumes of remotely sensed data and innovative techniques for optimizing the processing and interpretation of those data, these measurements are now more accessible than ever before. The Surface Water Mapping tool leverages the extensive archive of Landsat data in the Google Earth Engine archive and Google’s cloud processing power to quickly calculate past patterns of surface water extent from multiple layers of Landsat imagery. The tool consists of a Google Earth Engine application and a user friendly web interface which allows the user to specify the period evaluated and other calculation parameters that are then executed in a cloud service. Results are displayed on screen and can be downloaded for specified areas.

Launch the Surface Water Mapping Tool here.