You're currently viewing an old version of this dataset. Data files may not match the old version of the metadata. View the current version.
Draft

Lake-TopoCat: Global lake drainage topology and catchment database (HydroLAKES-TopoCat v1.1)

Lake-TopoCat provides a global-scale dataset that links lakes with their drainage topology, delineates catchments, defines inter-lake pathways, and quantifies topological attributes (upstream/downstream relationships, drainage distances, outlet multiplicity, etc.). The input is based on HydroLAKES v1.0 and MERIT Hydro (3 arcsec), with algorithms to detect possible lake bifurcation, unit catchment delineation, reach segmentation, and network attribution. The database includes:

  • Lake boundary polygons (same as HydroLAKES) enriched with drainage attributes
  • Lake outlet points
  • Unit catchment polygons corresponding to each lake outlet
  • Inter-lake reach lines connecting outlets
  • Lake-network basins (basin polygons delineating the full drainage domain of each lake network)

It covers ~1.43 million lakes (≥10 ha) and ~1.46 million outlets globally, and ~3 million inter-lake reaches, spanning ~77.5 × 10⁶ km² of catchment coverage (≈ 57 % of global landmass, excluding Antarctica). The dataset is freely available via Zenodo (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7916729) and is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Data and Resources

This dataset has no data

Cite this as

DOI:
10.5194/essd-15-3483-2023
Pending
Sikder, M. S., Wang, J., Allen, G. H., Sheng, Y., Yamazaki, D., Song, C., Ding, M., Crétaux, J.-F., and Pavelsky, T. M.: Lake-TopoCat: a global lake drainage topology and catchment database, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3483–3511, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3483-2023, 2023.
DOI Status: This DOI is not yet resolvable. It will be published when the dataset is made public or updated.

Metadata
INSPIRE
DCAT-AP
Download

Basic information
DOI https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3483-2023
Resource type Spatial data set
Date of creation 2025-10-13
Date of last revision 2025-10-13
Show changelog
Metadata identifier Lake-TopoCat:-Global-lake-drainage-topology-and-catchment-database-(HydroLAKES-TopoCat-v1.1)
Metadata language English
Themes (DCAT-AP)
High-value dataset category
ISO 19115 topic category environment
Other identifier
Keyword URIs
Spatial information
INSPIRE identifier
INSPIRE Themes
Geographic identifier
Coordinate Reference System
Spatial representation Type
Bounding Box
Spatial resolution of the dataset (m)
Provenance
Lineage statement
Metadata Standard
Conformity
Source dataset
Update frequency
Sources
Purpose
Process steps
Temporal extent (Start)
Temporal extent (End)
Version notes
Version
Dataset validity
Responsible Party
Name of the dataset creator (Legacy) IHP-WINS
Name of the dataset maintainer IHP-WINS
Identifier of the dataset creator (Legacy)
Email of the dataset creator (Legacy) ihp-wins@unesco.org
Identifier of the dataset maintainer
Email of the dataset maintainer ihp-wins@unesco.org
Website of the dataset maintainer