Global Lakes and Wetlands Database

https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/global-lakes-and-wetlands-database

Citation

Lehner, B. and Döll, P. (2004): Development and validation of a global database of lakes, reservoirs and wetlands. Journal of Hydrology 296/1-4: 1-22.

Data access

• Level 1 (GLWD-1) comprises the 3067 largest lakes (area ≥ 50 km2) and 654 largest reservoirs (storage capacity ≥ 0.5 km3) worldwide,
• Level 2 (GLWD-2) comprises permanent open water bodies with a surface area ≥ 0.1 km2 excluding the water bodies contained in GLWD-1,
• Level 3 (GLWD-3) comprises lakes, reservoirs, rivers and different wetland types in the form of a global raster map at 30-second resolution

Data download and preparation

source $HOME/proyectos/CES/cesdata/env/project-env.sh

mkdir -p $GISDATA/hydrology/global/GLWD
cd $GISDATA/hydrology/global/GLWD
wget --continue 'https://c402277.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/publications/16/files/original/GLWD-level1.zip?1343838522' --output-document='GLWD-level1.zip'
wget --continue 'https://c402277.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/publications/17/files/original/GLWD-level2.zip?1343838637'  --output-document='GLWD-level2.zip'
wget --continue 'https://c402277.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/publications/18/files/original/GLWD-level3.zip?1343838716' --output-document='GLWD-level3.zip'

##mv ~/Downloads/GLWD-level* .

for k in $(ls *zip)
do
  unzip -u $k
done

Legend

map nr.	class	matching EFG
1	Lake	F2.1,F2.2,F2.4,F2.6
2	Reservoir
3	River	F1.?
4	Freshwater Marsh, Floodplain	TF1.3
5	Swamp forest, flooded forest	TF1.1,TF1.2
6	Coastal Wetland
7	Pan, brackish/Saline Wetland
8	Bog, Fen, Mire	TF1.6,TF1.7
9	Intermitent Wetland, Lake	TF1.5,F2.3,F2.7
10	50-100% Wetland
11	25-50% Wetland
12	0-25% Wetland complex

Notes

• Class ‘lake’ in both GLWD-2 and GLWD-3 also includes man-made reservoirs, as only the largest reservoirs have been distinguished from natural lakes.
• All these include global land area but exclude Antarctica and glaciated Greenland