Data generated in the Lakes_cci project contains global lake products during the period 1992-2020, where and when data quality appropriate for climate studies can be achieved.
Main characteristics:
- Daily aggregation interval pinned to 12:00:00 UTC.
- Grid format with spatial resolution of 1/120 degrees (near 1 km at the equator).
- Per-lake variables (LWL and LWE) are duplicated into the grid for the area given under the nominal spatial delineation of that lake, derived from its maximum water extent as used for the variables resolved for the whole lakes grid.
- Datum: WGS84
- Extent: -180 to 180 degrees longitude, -90 to 90 degrees latitude, where positive signs point north and east. The pixel coordinate is the centre of the pixel. This results in 21600 grid rows and 43200 grid columns.
Water bodies observed in versions 2.0 and above:

The latest files in netCDF format as well as the netCDF file containing the mask with the maximum water extent are hosted at the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis: lakes_cci v2.0.2
The list of lakes, including their location and thematic ECV data availability for version 2.0.2, can be downloaded in csv format (lakescci_v2.0.2_data-availability) or shape format (lakes_cci_v2.0.2_data_availability_shp)
The landmask and the distance to land dataset of 2024 lakes in the lakes_cci dataset is available at: lake mask
There are some scripts (in beta version) to download data in selected areas or on a specific lake in the project code repository. Please do not hesitate to get in touch for help with the data, or any other project information (lakes-cci@groupcls.com).
Tips for users:
- Lake Water Leaving Reflectance (LWLR):
The temporal availability of LWLR data depends on the sensor. The table below shows the time span and sensor source for LWLR and derived variables.
MODIS-Aqua coverage is for a reduced number of lakes after validation of inter-sensor consistency. In v2.0.2, 38 lakes out of 250 investigated have MODIS data included in the indicated period. The remainder of lakes is being investigated during phase 2 of the project

- Lake Water Level (LWL):
As LWL is altimetry-based, water level information for some lakes is not available as they are not covered by past and current altimetry missions.