Reliable information on water levels and river flows is essential for understanding freshwater availability and supporting hydrological modelling. The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission provides a new, satellite-based global source of information on lakes and rivers, including estimates of water surface elevation and river discharge.

The SWOT Lake and River Explorer lets you explore global hydrologic measurements for lakes and rivers from the SWOT mission. Measurements are derived from high-resolution radar observations collected by the Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn) onboard SWOT. The provided data is served through the PO.DAAC Hydrocron API. Start exploring by selecting a lake or river reach/node.