DEA Water Observations

Background It is important to know where water is normally present in a landscape, where water is rarely observed, and where inundation has occasionally occurred. These observations tell us where flooding has occurred in the past, and allows us to understand wetlands, water connectivity and surface-groundwater relationships. This can lead to more effective emergency management and risk assessment. This is the principal Digital Earth Australia (DEA) Water product (previously known as Water Observations from Space (WOfS)), providing the individual water observations per satellite image that are subsequently used in the following DEA Watersuite and related water bodies products: DEA Waterbodies (Landsat), DEA Water Observations Statistics (Landsat), DEA Water Observations Filtered Statistics (Landsat). This product shows where surface water was observed by the Landsat satellites on any particular day since mid 1986. These daily data layers are termed Water Observations (WOs). What this product offers DEA Water Observations provides surface water observations derived from Landsat satellite imagery for all of Australia from 1986 to present.

The Water Observationsshow the extent of water in a corresponding Landsat scene, along with the degree to which the scene was obscured by clouds, shadows or where sensor problems cause parts of a scene to not be observable.