This dataset contains water level (WL) data from the ESA Climate Change Initiative River Discharge project (RD_cci). Water level in this context corresponds to the distance between river surface water and a reference surface (the WGS84 ellipsoid). This physical variable might also be referred to as Water Surface Elevation (WSE) in other dataset or publications.

This version of the dataset is v2.1

These river water level time series have been computed in at 54 locations (within 18 river basins). The data has been derived from nadir viewing satellite radar altimeter missions (ERS-2, Envisat, Saral, Topex-Poseidon, Jason-1, Jason-2, Jason-3, Sentinel-3A/B and Sentinel 6A). At each location, time series are provided for each available single nadir radar altimetry mission. Based on these single mission time series, merged multi-missions WL time series (with two different methodologies for some basins) have also been produced.