TechnicalGIS

River, lake and hydrology data by country

Theme
Hydrology
Countries
204
National sources
369
Global datasets
16
Last verified

National river networks, gauging and water body data, plus the HydroSHEDS family, MERIT Hydro, JRC Global Surface Water and GloFAS. This page lists all 369 national hydrology sources in the catalogue, country by country, after the 16 global datasets.

Global hydrology datasets

  • Global Flood Awareness System (GloFAS) (opens in a new tab)

    Web viewer Cost: Free

    Copernicus Emergency Management Service / ECMWF · Global

    Global river discharge forecasts to 30 days and historical reanalysis at 0.05°; data download via the Early Warning Data Store.

    • Hydrology
    • Natural hazards
    Licence
    Copernicus EMS licence (free; attribution)
    Formats
    NetCDF, GRIB, WMS
    Link
    global-flood.emergency.copernicus.eu

    Verified

  • Global Runoff Data Centre (GRDC) (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG), Germany / WMO · Global

    Daily and monthly river discharge records from more than 10,000 gauging stations, some going back over 200 years.

    • Hydrology
    Licence
    GRDC terms of use and data policy (free; attribution)
    Formats
    CSV, NetCDF
    Link
    grdc.bafg.de

    Verified

  • HydroBASINS (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    WWF / McGill University (HydroSHEDS) · Global

    Nested watershed boundaries in 12 Pfafstetter levels, from continental basins down to sub-catchments of about 100–200 km².

    • Hydrology
    Licence
    HydroSHEDS licence (free use incl. commercial; attribution)
    Formats
    Shapefile
    Link
    hydrosheds.org

    Verified

  • HydroLAKES (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    WWF / McGill University (HydroSHEDS) · Global

    Shoreline polygons of 1.4 million lakes and reservoirs larger than 10 ha, with volume, depth and residence time estimates.

    • Hydrology
    Licence
    HydroSHEDS licence (free use incl. commercial; attribution)
    Formats
    Shapefile, File geodatabase
    Link
    hydrosheds.org

    Verified

  • HydroRIVERS (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    WWF / McGill University (HydroSHEDS) · Global

    Vector network of 8.5 million river reaches with catchment areas over 10 km² and long-term discharge estimates.

    • Hydrology
    Licence
    HydroSHEDS licence (free use incl. commercial; attribution)
    Formats
    Shapefile, File geodatabase
    Link
    hydrosheds.org

    Verified

  • JRC Global Surface Water Explorer (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    European Commission Joint Research Centre / Google · Global

    30 m maps of where and when surface water occurred from 1984 onwards (occurrence, seasonality, change, transitions) from Landsat.

    • Hydrology
    • Land cover
    Licence
    Free, no restrictions (Copernicus programme); cite Pekel et al. 2016
    Formats
    GeoTIFF
    Link
    global-surface-water.appspot.com

    Verified

  • MERIT Hydro (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free with registration

    Yamazaki Lab, University of Tokyo · Global

    Global 3 arc-second (about 90 m) flow direction, flow accumulation, river width and HAND; free registration form for the password.

    • Hydrology
    • Elevation / DEM
    Licence
    CC BY-NC 4.0 or ODbL 1.0 (dual licence)
    Formats
    GeoTIFF
    Link
    global-hydrodynamics.github.io

    Verified

  • HydroSHEDS (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    WWF / McGill University · Global

    Hydrologically conditioned elevation, flow direction and accumulation at 3–15 arc-seconds (about 90–500 m), the base of the Hydro* family.

    • Hydrology
    Licence
    HydroSHEDS licence (free use incl. commercial; attribution)
    Formats
    Shapefile, GeoTIFF
    Link
    hydrosheds.org

    Verified

  • Aqueduct Floods Hazard Maps (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    World Resources Institute · Global

    Riverine and coastal flood depth maps for return periods from 2 to 1,000 years, at about 1 km, for present and future climates.

    • Natural hazards
    • Hydrology
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Formats
    GeoTIFF
    Link
    wri.org

    Verified

  • Digital Earth Africa (opens in a new tab)

    API Cost: Free

    Digital Earth Africa · Africa

    Analysis-ready Landsat and Sentinel data for Africa plus derived products (water observations, cropland extent, coastlines) on AWS.

    • Imagery
    • Land cover
    • Hydrology
    • Agriculture & soils
    Licence
    Free and open (most products CC BY 4.0)
    Formats
    COG, STAC, WMS
    Link
    digitalearthafrica.org

    Verified

  • EEA Datahub (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    European Environment Agency · Europe

    European environmental datasets: Natura 2000, water bodies (WISE), noise, air quality, emissions and the EEA reference grid.

    • Environment
    • Land cover
    • Hydrology
    • Open data portal
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0 (EEA reuse policy; most datasets)
    Formats
    GeoPackage, Shapefile, GeoTIFF, WMS
    Link
    eea.europa.eu

    Verified

  • Open Maps for Europe (EuroGlobalMap, EuroRegionalMap) (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    EuroGeographics · Europe

    Pan-European topographic and administrative boundary data at 1:1M (EuroGlobalMap) and 1:250k from national mapping agencies.

    • Boundaries & admin
    • Transport
    • Hydrology
    Licence
    CC BY 4.0
    Formats
    GeoPackage, Shapefile, GML
    Link
    mapsforeurope.org

    Verified

  • Global Flood Database (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Cloud to Street / Dartmouth Flood Observatory · Global

    Satellite-observed extents of 913 large floods (2000–2018) from MODIS at 250 m, with population exposed.

    • Natural hazards
    • Hydrology
    Licence
    CC BY-NC 4.0
    Formats
    GeoTIFF
    Link
    global-flood-database.cloudtostreet.ai

    Verified

  • TerraClimate (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Climatology Lab, University of California Merced · Global

    Monthly climate and water balance (evapotranspiration, soil moisture, runoff) at 1/24° (about 4 km) for global land since 1958.

    • Climate & weather
    • Hydrology
    Licence
    CC0 1.0
    Formats
    NetCDF
    Link
    climatologylab.org

    Verified

  • Natural Earth (opens in a new tab)

    Download Cost: Free

    Natural Earth · Global

    Small-scale cultural and physical vectors at 1:10m, 1:50m and 1:110m, ideal for overview maps; powers this page’s globe.

    • Boundaries & admin
    • Hydrology
    • Imagery
    Licence
    Public domain
    Formats
    Shapefile, GeoPackage
    Link
    naturalearthdata.com

    Verified

  • OpenStreetMap (opens in a new tab)

    API Cost: Free

    OpenStreetMap contributors · Global

    The free, editable map of the world, updated by the minute; query it with Overpass or OSMnx (see our OSMnx tutorial).

    • Transport
    • Boundaries & admin
    • Hydrology
    • Buildings
    • Addresses & cadastre
    Licence
    ODbL 1.0
    Formats
    PBF, XML
    Link
    openstreetmap.org

    Verified

Hydrology sources by country

Africa 56 countries

Algeria 2
Angola 2
Benin 2
Botswana 3
Burkina Faso 2
Burundi 2
Cabo Verde 1
Cameroon 2
Central African Republic 2
Chad 2
Comoros 1
Côte d'Ivoire 2
Democratic Republic of the Congo 2
Djibouti 2
Egypt 2
Equatorial Guinea 2
Eritrea 2
Eswatini 2
Ethiopia 2
Gabon 2
Ghana 2
Guinea 2
Guinea-Bissau 2
Kenya 3
Lesotho 2
Liberia 2
Libya 2
Madagascar 2
Malawi 2
Mali 2
Mauritania 2
Mauritius 1
Morocco 2
Mozambique 2
Namibia 2
Niger 2
Nigeria 2
Republic of the Congo 2
Rwanda 2
Saint Helena 1
São Tomé and Príncipe 1
Senegal 2
Seychelles 1
Sierra Leone 2
Somalia 2
South Africa 3
South Sudan 2
Sudan 2
Tanzania 2
The Gambia 2
Togo 2
Tunisia 2
Uganda 2
Western Sahara 1
Zambia 2
Zimbabwe 2

Asia 49 countries

Afghanistan 1
Armenia 1
Azerbaijan 2
Bahrain 1
Bangladesh 2
Bhutan 2
Brunei 1
Cambodia 2
China 2
Cyprus 2
Georgia 2
India 1
Indonesia 1
Iran 1
Iraq 1
Israel 2
Japan 2
Jordan 1
Kazakhstan 2
Kuwait 1
Kyrgyzstan 1
Laos 2
Lebanon 1
Malaysia 2
Maldives 1
Mongolia 1
Myanmar 1
Nepal 2
North Korea 1
Oman 1
Pakistan 1
Palestine 1
Philippines 1
Qatar 1
Saudi Arabia 1
Singapore 1
South Korea 1
Sri Lanka 1
Syria 1
Taiwan 1
Tajikistan 2
Thailand 2
Timor-Leste 1
Türkiye 1
Turkmenistan 1
United Arab Emirates 1
Uzbekistan 2
Vietnam 3
Yemen 1

Europe 44 countries

Albania 1
Andorra 1
Austria 2
Belarus 1
Belgium 2
Bosnia and Herzegovina 1
Bulgaria 2
Croatia 2
Czechia 5
Denmark 2
Estonia 3
Faroe Islands 1
Finland 3
France 5
Germany 1
Greece 2
Hungary 2
Iceland 1
Ireland 2
Italy 1
Kosovo 1
Latvia 3
Liechtenstein 1
Lithuania 1
Luxembourg 1
Malta 1
Moldova 1
Monaco 1
Montenegro 2
Netherlands 3
North Macedonia 2
Norway 4
Poland 4
Portugal 2
Romania 3
Russia 1
Serbia 2
Slovakia 3
Slovenia 2
Spain 1
Sweden 4
Switzerland 2
Ukraine 2
United Kingdom 13

North America 19 countries

Bahamas 1
Belize 1
Canada 5
Costa Rica 1
Cuba 1
Dominican Republic 1
El Salvador 2
Greenland 1
Guatemala 1
Haiti 1
Honduras 1
Jamaica 1
Mexico 2
Nicaragua 1
Panama 1
Puerto Rico 2
Saint Pierre and Miquelon 1
United States 8
United States Virgin Islands 1

South America 12 countries

Argentina 2
Bolivia 1
Brazil 3
Chile 2
Colombia 2
Ecuador 2
Guyana 1
Paraguay 1
Peru 3
Suriname 1
Uruguay 1
Venezuela 1

Oceania 23 countries

American Samoa 3
Australia 8
Cook Islands 1
Fiji 1
French Polynesia 1
Guam 3
Kiribati 1
Marshall Islands 1
Micronesia 1
Nauru 1
New Caledonia 1
New Zealand 3
Niue 1
Northern Mariana Islands 3
Palau 1
Papua New Guinea 1
Pitcairn Islands 1
Samoa 1
Solomon Islands 1
Tonga 1
Tuvalu 1
Vanuatu 1
Wallis and Futuna Islands 1

Antarctica 1 country

Antarctica 3

Tutorials that use hydrology data