Ground breaking River Map to help fight floods

A team of researchers from the University of Oxford have unveiled the most complete map of the world’s rivers to date, offering a powerful new tool in the fight against rising flood risks driven by climate change. Known as GRIT (Global River Topology), the map captures river systems in far greater detail than ever before, showing not just where rivers flow, but how they split, branch, and interact with the surrounding landscape.

Flooding is the most widespread natural disaster globally, causing over $100 billion in damages each year and affecting millions of people. As climate change increases the frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall, especially in densely populated areas, the need for better flood prediction tools has never been greater.

Until now, river maps have often overlooked complex features such as the splitting of channels, missing the complexity of multi-channel systems and large canals. Built using high-resolution satellite images and advanced elevation data, GRIT maps 19.6 million kilometres of rivers and identifies 67,000 bifurcations (the splitting into channels), providing critical insights into how water moves across the Earth’s surface.

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