This file contains the global grids, assembled by combining all 33 wetland grids. This file shows the relative area of all wetland classes combined, in percent of pixel area.
This file contains the global grids, assembled by combining all 33 wetland grids. This file shows the dominant wetland class within pixel (in cases of ties, the lower wetland class is chosen); value 0 indicates inland pixels without any wetland coverage.
File uploaded: GLWD Absolute Area style file.sld Auto-generated description
This file contains the global grids, assembled by combining all 33 wetland grids. This file shows the absolute area of all wetland classes combined, in hectares times 10 (i.e., value 15 means 1.5 ha).
The Global Lakes and Wetlands Database (GLWD) version 2 provides a comprehensive and seamless global map of inland surface waters distinguished into 33 waterbody and wetland types. GLWD v2 was developed by harmonizing the best available ground- and satellite-based data sources and has been designed to represent the maximum non-overlapping extents of aquatic ecosystems over the broad contemporary period of 1990-2020. GLWD v2 represents a total of 18.2 million km2 of wetlands at a grid cell resolution of 15 arc-seconds (approximately 500 m at the equator). The data consist of a map of the dominant waterbody or wetland type in each grid cell, as well as 33 individual class layers which represent the sub-cell fraction of each specific class within each grid cell. Version 2 of GLWD (Lehner et al., 2025) is the successor of the widely-used GLWD version 1 (Lehner & Döll, 2004). The quality, resolution, and format of GLWD v2 significantly improves upon GLWD v1 and supersedes the older version.
The Global Lakes and Wetlands Database (GLWD)
This file contains the global grids, assembled by combining all 33 wetland grids. This file shows the dominant wetland class within pixel, only for pixels where the total wetland extent exceeds 50% (in cases of ties, the lower wetland class is chosen); value 0 indicates inland pixels where dryland (non-wetland) dominates.