SWOT River Volume Variations (rivers only)
This is a visualization of changes in volume of the rivers of the world over the course of a year. The data show monthly river volumes anomalies. River volume is the total amount of water flowing through a channel per unit of time (e.g., cubic meters/second). River volume anomalies are just the difference in river volume from the normal river volume at each location. In this visualization, white represents lower than normal volume, cyan is normal volume, and blue is higher than normal volume. In the visualization, the river thicknesses are scaled for river volumes that are higher or lower than normal. The land data are monthly, showing the seasons as the land colors change and snow advances and retreats. This shows the strong correlation between river flows and the seasons.
The river volume data are monthly and span one year from October 2023 through September 2024. The data are interpolated to loop seamlessly. The volume data are separated into reaches, which are short sections of rivers and streams, typically around 10 kilometers in length. The reach data are mapped onto the higher resolution SWORD river database which has very high-resolution river paths.
YouTube link:https://youtu.be/4pxkcaC2n5A
Paper link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10218-y
NASA story link: https://www.nasa.gov/earth/us-french-satellite-takes-stock-of-worlds-river-water/
JPL story link: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/us-french-satellite-takes-stock-of-worlds-river-water/
There is another version of this visualization that includes the land and zooms into several different rivers.
Visualization of world rivers without land background, but with date and colorbar overlay.
This is the same visualization as above without the date and colorbar overlay.
Credits
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Data visualizer
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Greg Shirah
(NASA/GSFC)
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Greg Shirah
(NASA/GSFC)
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Scientists
- Cedric David (Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL))
- Arnaud Cerbelaud (Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL))
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Producer
- Andrew Wang (Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL))
Missions
This page is related to the following missions:Datasets used
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SWOT River Volume dataset monthly volume anomalies in each region [Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT)]
ID: 1272This dataset can be found at: https://zenodo.org/records/17945109
See all pages that use this dataset -
SWORD (SWOT River Database) [Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT)]
ID: 1271 -
BMNG (Blue Marble: Next Generation) [Terra and Aqua: MODIS]
ID: 508Credit: The Blue Marble data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC).
This dataset can be found at: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/BlueMarble/
See all pages that use this dataset -
ETOPO-30
ID: 1216NOAA Earth TOPOgraphy global relief model 30 arc-second resolution (ETOPO-30): The ETOPO Global Relief Model integrates topography, bathymetry, and shoreline data from regional and global datasets to enable comprehensive, high resolution renderings of geophysical characteristics of the earth’s surface. The model is designed to support tsunami forecasting, modeling, and warning, as well as ocean circulation modeling and Earth visualization.
This dataset can be found at: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/etopo-global-relief-model
See all pages that use this dataset
Note: While we identify the data sets used on this page, we do not store any further details, nor the data sets themselves on our site.
Alternate Versions
- ID: 5618
Visualization
Release date
This page was originally published on Wednesday, March 4, 2026.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, March 4, 2026 at 1:29 PM EST.