waterbody

A waterbody is any identifiable accumulation of water on the Earth's surface. Waterbodies can be natural or artificial and may contain freshwater, saltwater, or brackish water. They are components of the hydrological cycle and vary in size, depth, volume, and salinity. Examples include oceans, seas, rivers, lakes, wetlands, and reservoirs.

Waterbodies are commonly classified by type and by properties such as salinity and flow. Natural waterbodies include oceans, seas, rivers and streams, lakes, ponds, wetlands, estuaries, and lagoons. Artificial waterbodies include reservoirs. Lotic waterbodies are flowing; lentic waterbodies are still or slow-moving. Freshwater, brackish, and saline categories reflect salinity.

Waterbodies provide habitat for diverse organisms and support services such as drinking water, irrigation, flood control, climate regulation, recreation, and transport. They are connected through watersheds, forming networks that transfer water and nutrients. Common measurements include surface area, depth, volume, flow, and water quality indicators like temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity.

Human activities affect waterbodies through pollution, extraction, damming, land-use change, and invasive species. Climate change can alter water availability, raise sea levels, modify evaporation and precipitation, and affect ice cover and flows. Management aims to protect habitats, sustain use, maintain water quality, and support restoration and regulation.

In geographic information systems, waterbodies are represented as features with attributes such as name, type, location, basin, and usage. Examples illustrate the diversity of waterbodies and their central role in landscapes and societies.