Surface water bodies and their changes in the landscape are critical for societies and ecosystems. However, the global change in surface water area over the last decades remains unclear, as recent studies using the same satellite data disagree on its direction. Here, we reanalyze reported maps of global water classification based on that data in order to estimate the changes in long‐term average surface water area from the first (1985–2000) to the second (2001–2015) half of the recent 30‐year period (1985–2015). We find a net gain in global surface water area by 100,454 km², primarily due to seasonal water gains (83,329 km²). Over the world, we identify net wetting in 187 and net drying in 57 regional hydrological catchments, with the greatest water gain in Sabarmati (India) and loss in Amu Darya (Uzbekistan). We provide an interactive map to further explore the highly heterogeneous local changes around the world.

中文翻译：

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近几十年来全球季节性地表水润湿

地表水体及其在景观中的变化对于社会和生态系统至关重要。然而，由于最近使用相同卫星数据的研究在其方向上存在分歧，因此过去几十年来全球地表水域变化尚不清楚。在这里，我们根据这些数据重新分析报告的全球水分类地图，以估算最近30年来第一半部（1985-2000年）到第二半部（2001-2015年）的长期平均地表水面积的变化。年期间（1985年至2015年）。我们发现全球地表水面积净增加了100,454 km ²，这主要是由于季节性水增加（83,329 km ²）。在全球范围内，我们确定了187个地区的水文流域的净湿润和57个区域水文流域的净干燥，其中萨巴尔马蒂（印度）的增水量最大，而阿姆达里亚（乌兹别克斯坦）的流失量最大。我们提供了一个交互式地图，以进一步探索世界各地高度异质的本地变化。