Rivers and streams are like Earth's veins and capillaries, waterways that supply the planet with vital water, nutrients, and habitats for many of its important ecosystems. They also contribute to larger bodies of water including lakes, seas, and the ocean. For humans, they can serve many purposes including as transportation networks, resources and hubs for industry and power production, as well as sources of food, recreation, and beauty for some of the greatest places we call home. During extreme weather, rivers and streams can also be dangerous, swiftly swelling with water and flooding communities

NASA continuously collects ground, airborne, and space-based rivers and streams data. Data is supplied by methods such as stream gauges monitoring flooding risk, computer models predicting river behavior over time, and the Surface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT) platform making large-scale, detailed observations of the planet's surface water elevation. 

The data is useful for a variety of applications including ecological management, climate research, flood risk planning and response, agriculture, and increasing understanding of fluvial processes.