GCRI · Fields across the Consortium
Spatial intelligenceObservations, models and their uncertainty in one view
Water
Water is where climate change is felt first and governed least coherently. One catchment serves cities, farms, power plants and ecosystems, often across borders, under rules written for a climate that no longer holds.
Water in six parts.
The field, seen three ways.
Financial understanding
No platform yet in this field.
Water now worldwide.
Rain, flood water, root-zone soil moisture and true-colour imagery across the world, from NASA GIBS. Each layer carries its own date.
The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.
Layers 4
Water now, for this page
Keyboard, with the map focused
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Latest available
NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth
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Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.
Water now, framed on World. Layers as NASA publishes them, each with its own date.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date; indicators, not assessments of any place; claim ceiling INTEGRATED.
Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONET · NASA HLS S30Sources and licences
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- GPM IMERG precipitation, NASA Precipitation Processing System; distributed by the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- SMAP Level 4 soil moisture and snow mass, NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office; distributed by the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center DAAC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- GRACE and GRACE-FO JPL mascon solution, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory; distributed by the NASA Physical Oceanography DAAC (PO.DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- MODIS land products (vegetation indices, gross primary production, land cover), NASA LP DAAC and LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
- Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
- © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
- Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
- Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
- Live: NASA EONET Events are indicative, not authority warnings.
- Observed (EO): NASA HLS S30 (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026). We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- River discharge forecast, 30 days with range (GloFAS via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Emergency Management Service information 2026; not a flood warning.
- Past year, daily temperature (ERA5 via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
- Past year, daily temperature and sunshine (NASA POWER): These data were obtained from the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) POWER Project funded through the NASA Earth Science/Applied Science Program..
- Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Optional layers (14 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.
Layers and dates
- Precipitation rate, daily mean: GPM IMERG, NASA GES DISC · 12 Oct 2026
- Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026
- Root-zone soil moisture, 0 to 100 cm: SMAP Level 4, NASA NSIDC DAAC · 11 Oct 2026
- True colour: VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
- Water storage anomaly, monthly: GRACE-FO JPL mascons, NASA JPL PO.DAAC · July 2022
- Land cover type (IGBP), yearly: MODIS Terra and Aqua land cover (MCD12Q1), NASA LP DAAC · 2024
Who absorbs the shortfall when a basin runs short?
Water risk is a joint distribution, not a single hazard. Drought reduces supply while heat raises irrigation, cooling and municipal demand at the same time; floods damage treatment works and contaminate supply when it is most needed. The decisive question in a basin is how allocation rules, reservoir operations and groundwater pumping share a shortfall among users, and what each user's loss does to the others.
- Hydropower and thermal plants lose output or must curtail when flows drop or water warms.
- Irrigation draws down aquifers in dry years, which lowers baseflow and the drought resilience of the next year.
- Utilities face revenue loss and deferred maintenance after restrictions, which raises failure risk in the next event.
Model water as a system. Run the cascade.
Assembled from the Nexus Standards area profile Water utilities and basins: the hazards it names, the systems and sectors that carry the loss, the controls that dampen it and the data that observe it. Choose the components, pick an initiating hazard and step through the cascade. The Map view places the run on an example geography with open data. Every coupling weight is a stated assumption you can change. A teaching model, not a forecast, an assessment or a certification.
Hazards
- Dam failure
- River flood (set off downstream)
- Flash flood (set off downstream)
- Mass displacement (set off downstream)
- Widespread power outage (set off downstream)
- Water supply shortfall (set off downstream)
Systems and couplings
- Water utilities and basins
- Energy utilities and grids Coupling
- Health systems Coupling
- Agriculture and land use Coupling
- Cities and the built environment Coupling
Controls
NS-0Constitution and principlesNS-3Risk record UNIs (grammar, legacy crosswalk, allocation authority)NS-9Contextual UNIs (deployments, instances, programme instances)NS-10Policies and clauses (machine-readable obligations: definition, binding, evaluation and enforcement)NS-11Verification and monitoring (evidence, attestations, zero-trust conformance observation)NRS-N1Water risk and resilienceNRS-U28Universe platform profile: Water NexusNRS-H85Hazard family: Water and wastewater system failure (NHS-1 infra.water-systems)NRS-H53Hazard family: Cyber-physical disruption (NHS-1 cyber.cyber-physical)NRS-H48Hazard family: Utility and communication network outage (NHS-1 infra.utilities)NRS-H84Hazard family: Energy system instability and shortfall (NHS-1 infra.energy)
Observation
- Aqueduct 4.0 Water Risk Atlas (listed for reference)
- AQUASTAT (listed for reference)
- World Development Indicators (listed for reference)
- GloFAS global flood forecasts (listed for reference)
- Proportion of population using safely managed drinking water services
- Level of water stress: freshwater withdrawal as a proportion of available freshwater resources
- Proportion of transboundary basin area with an operational arrangement for water cooperation
- Number of disruptions to basic services attributed to disasters
- People using safely managed drinking water services (% of population)
Example geography
- The Ganges and Brahmaputra Basin: 178 H3 hexagons at resolution 3
- Night lights tonight, outages (VIIRS Day/Night Band), NASA GIBS
- Surface water through cloud, 30 m (OPERA DSWx-S1 radar), NASA GIBS
- Rain rate, last half hour (IMERG), NASA GIBS
- Surface soil moisture (SMAP), NASA GIBS
What the evidence is read against.
| Framework or body | What it governs or supplies |
|---|---|
| SDG 6 and the UN-Water integrated monitoring initiative | Indicators for water stress (6.4.2), integrated water resources management (6.5.1) and transboundary cooperation (6.5.2) |
| UNECE Water Convention | Rules for transboundary watercourses, open to all UN member states |
| WMO Unified Data Policy | Exchange of hydrological observations as core or recommended data |
| Sendai Framework | Flood and drought losses reported against the global targets |
| IPBES Nexus Assessment | How water interacts with biodiversity, food, health and climate |
The nexus signature of water.
The sectors water touches and how strongly they depend on each other: what a study has to observe and model together.
Signature
Water and its partners
Water gives irrigation to food (0.8), cooling water and hydropower to energy (0.6) and environmental flows to biodiversity (0.6).
W · E · I · F · H · B
- Sectors
- 4 of 6
- Relations
- 6 of 15
- Coupling
- 0.43 share of total
Strongest relations in play
- Food → Biodiversity · land conversion0.6
- Water → Energy · cooling water and hydropower0.6
- Water → Food · irrigation0.8
- Water → Biodiversity · environmental flows0.6
Where water risk travels.
- Energy: hydropower share and thermal cooling set how fast a drought becomes a power problem.
- Food and agriculture: irrigated output and groundwater depletion link water stress to prices and nutrition.
- Health: sanitation failure after floods and scarcity drives waterborne disease.
- Diplomacy: shared basins make allocation a matter between states, which GRF takes up on Diplomacy Nexus.
The science sits on Water Nexus; methods start from hydrology and extreme value statistics.
The methods behind the field.
- Hydrology and water science
- Water and environmental engineering
- Geospatial information systems
- Earth observation and remote sensing
- Sensors, IoT and observation networks
- Forecasting and time-series analysis
- Extreme value theory and tail risk
- Spatial statistics and geostatistics
- Uncertainty quantification and model validation
- Policy, institutional and decision science
- Game theory and mechanism design
- Ocean and coastal science
- Climate and atmospheric science
- Ecology and biodiversity science
- Agricultural, soil and food science
Where this page's references lead.
The bodies and documents this page is read against. Status and editions change; each link goes to the issuing body.
Questions and answers.
Why does GCRI host field gateways?
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The same subject across the Consortium.
- GRFglobalriskforum.comHydrology for water diplomacyMandates, commitments and accountability
- GRAglobalriskalliance.comHydrology and water science for reinsurance and catastropheExposure, loss and capital
- Nexus Standardsnexustandards.comWater and Food SystemsStandards that apply
- Risk Academyrisksacademy.comWater security and hydrologyWhere it is taught
- Nexus Reportstherisk.globalWater Nexus in Nexus ReportsWhere it is reported
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