In mid July 2011, the photosynthetic organs (leaf or assimilating branches) of typical desert plants were collected and determined by laboratory. The indicators include: leaf water potential, total leaf water content, relative water content, dry weight water content, leaf dry matter content, specific leaf area, specific leaf volume, free water, bound water, etc.

The dataset of crop biochemical parameter measurements was obtained in the maize field (May 25-Jun. 8, 2008) and the wheat field (Jun. 18-Jul. 4, 2008) of Yingke oasis foci experimental area. Observation items included LAI by LAI-2000, the chlorophyll content by SPAD and leaf moisture by the oven and the scales. Four files were included, readme.txt, wheat sample coordinates.xls, wheat.xls for wheat biochemical parameters and Yingke oasis maize field.xls for maize biochemical parameters.

This dataset contains the flux measurements from the Sidaoqiao superstation eddy covariance system (EC) in the lower reaches of the Heihe hydrometeorological observation network from 6 July to 31 December, 2013. The site (101.137° E, 42.001° N) was located in the Tamarix surface, Ejin Banner in Inner Mongolia. The elevation is 873 m. The EC was installed at a height of 8 m, and the sampling rate was 10 Hz. The sonic anemometer faced north, and the separation distance between the sonic anemometer and the CO2/H2O gas analyzer (CSAT3&Li7500A) was 0.15 m. The raw data acquired at 10 Hz were processed using the Edire post-processing software (University of Edinburgh, http://www.geos.ed.ac.uk/abs/research/micromet/EdiRe/), including the spike detection, lag correction of H2O/CO2 relative to the vertical wind component, sonic virtual temperature correction, coordinate rotation (2-D rotation), corrections for density fluctuation (Webb-Pearman-Leuning correction), and frequency response correction. The EC data were subsequently averaged over 30 min periods. The observation data quality was divided into three classes according to the quality assessment method of stationarity (Δst) and the integral turbulent characteristics test (ITC), as proposed by Foken and Wichura [1996]: class 1 (level 0: Δst<30 and ITC<30), class 2 (level 1: Δst<100 and ITC<100), and class 3 (level 2: Δst>100 and ITC>100), which represent high-, medium-, and low-quality data, respectively. In addition to the above processing steps, the half-hourly flux data were screened using a four-step procedure: (1) data from periods of sensor malfunction were rejected; (2) data collected before or after 1 h of precipitation were rejected; (3) incomplete 30 min data were rejected when the missing data constituted more than 3% of the 30 min raw record; and (4) data were rejected at night when the friction velocity (u*) was less than 0.12 m/s. There were 48 records per day, and the missing data were replaced with -6999. Suspicious data were marked in red. The released data contained the following variables: data/time, wind direction (Wdir, °), wind speed (Wnd, m/s), the standard deviation of the lateral wind (Std_Uy, m/s), virtual temperature (Tv, ℃), H2O mass density (H2O, g/m^3), CO2 mass density (CO2, mg/m^3), friction velocity (ustar, m/s), stability (z/L), sensible heat flux (Hs, W/m^2), latent heat flux (LE, W/m^2), carbon dioxide flux (Fc, mg/ (m^2s)), quality assessment of the sensible heat flux (QA_Hs), quality assessment of the latent heat flux (QA_LE), and quality assessment of the carbon flux (QA_Fc). In this dataset, the time of 0:30 corresponds to the average data for the period between 0:00 and 0:30; the data were stored in *.xls format. For more information, please refer to Li et al. (2013) (for hydrometeorological observation network or sites information), Liu et al. (2011) (for data processing) in the Citation section.

In July 19, 2012 (UTC+8), the airborne LIDAR data is acquired in the foci area in the Heihe,middle reaches, which can provide high spatial resolution (m) and high precision (20 cm) of the surface elevation information. Based on airborne LIDAR data processing, the land surface DEM, DSM and point cloud density map were generated. By subtracting DSM and DEM directly, a Vegetation height product in the middle reaches of the Heihe River Basin was obtained. The product overall accuracy is 88%.

This dataset contains the flux measurements from the Zhangye wetland station eddy covariance system (EC) in the flux observation matrix from 25 June to 26 September, 2012. The site (100.44640° E, 38.97514° N) was located in a wetland surface, which is near Zhangye city, Gansu Province. The elevation is 1460.00 m. The EC was installed at a height of 5.2 m; the sampling rate was 10 Hz. The sonic anemometer faced north, and the separation distance between the sonic anemometer and the CO2/H2O gas analyzer (Gill&Li7500A) was 0.25 m. Raw data acquired at 10 Hz were processed using the Eddypro post-processing software (Li-Cor Company, http://www.licor.com/env/products/ eddy_covariance/software.html), including spike detection, lag correction of H2O/CO2 relative to the vertical wind component, sonic virtual temperature correction, angle of attack correction, coordinate rotation (2-D rotation), corrections for density fluctuation (Webb-Pearman-Leuning correction), and frequency response correction. The EC data were subsequently averaged over 30 min periods. Moreover, the observation data quality was divided into three classes according to the quality assessment method of stationarity (Δst) and the integral turbulent characteristics test (ITC), which was proposed by Foken and Wichura [1996]: class 1 (level 0: Δst<30 and ITC<30), class 2 (level 1: Δst<100 and ITC<100), and class 3 (level 2: Δst>100 and ITC>100), representing high-, medium-, and low-quality data, respectively. In addition to the above processing steps, the half-hourly flux data were screened in a four-step procedure: (1) data from periods of sensor malfunction were rejected; (2) data before or after 1 h of precipitation were rejected; (3) incomplete 30 min data were rejected when the missing data constituted more than 3% of the 30 min raw record; and (4) data were rejected at night when the friction velocity (u*) was less than 0.1 m/s. There were 48 records per day; the missing data were replaced with -6999. Moreover, suspicious data were marked in red. The released data contained the following variables: data/time, wind direction (Wdir, °), wind speed (Wnd, m/s), the standard deviation of the lateral wind (Std_Uy, m/s), virtual temperature (Tv, ℃), H2O mass density (H2O, g/m^3), CO2 mass density (CO2, mg/m^3), friction velocity (ustar, m/s), stability (z/L), sensible heat flux (Hs, W/m^2), latent heat flux (LE, W/m^2), carbon dioxide flux (Fc, mg/ (m^2s)), quality assessment of the sensible heat flux (QA_Hs), quality assessment of the latent heat flux (QA_LE), and quality assessment of the carbon flux (QA_Fc). In this dataset, the time of 0:30 corresponds to the average data for the period between 0:00 and 0:30; the data were stored in *.xlsx format. For more information, please refer to Liu et al. (2016) (for multi-scale observation experiment or sites information), Xu et al. (2013) (for data processing) in the Citation section.

Spectral reflectance observation was carried out for the typical underlying surface and black and white cloth in the low reaches of the Heihe River Basin during the aviation flight experiment in 2014, which will provide basic data set for the preprocessing of the flight data. 1. Observation Instrument PRS-3500 portable spectrometer, with the spectral range is 350-2500 nm, and the reference board. 2. Samples and observation methods The samples including the black and white cloth, the cantaloupe, the Tamarix chinensis, the Populus euphratica, the reeds, the weeds, the Karelinia caspica, the sandy soil, the gobi, the Sophora alopecuroides and so on. Reflectance of the reference board was measure vertically for once and then objective reflectance were measured for five times for each observation objective. 3. Observation time The typical underlying surface vegetation observation was on days of 24 July, 27 July, 31 July, 2014. The black and white cloth simultaneous observation was on 29 July, 2014. 4. Data storage The observation recorded data were stored in excel and the original spectral data were stored in *.sed files derived from the spectrometer, which can be opened by the matched software of the spectrometer or by a txt.

This dataset includes data recorded by the Hydrometeorological observation network obtained from the automatic weather station (AWS) at the observation system of Meteorological elements gradient of Sidaoqiao mixed forest station between 12 July, 2013, and 31 December, 2013. The site (101.134° E, 41.990° N) was located on a tamarix and populous forest (Tamarix chinensis Lour. and Populus euphratica Olivier.) surface in the Sidaoqiao, Dalaihubu Town, Ejin Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The elevation is 874 m. The installation heights and orientations of different sensors and measured quantities were as follows: air temperature and humidity profile (HMP45D; 28 m, north), wind speed and direction profile (034B; 28 m, north), air pressure (AV-410BP; in tamper box), rain gauge (52203; 28 m, south), four-component radiometer (CNR4; 24 m, south), two infrared temperature sensors (IRTC3; 24 m, south, vertically downward), two photosynthetically active radiation (PQS-1; 24 m, south, one vertically upward and one vertically downward), soil heat flux (HFP01; 3 duplicates, -0.06 m), soil temperature profile (AV-10T; 0, -0.02, -0.04, -0.1, -0.2, -0.4, -0.6 and -1.0 m), and soil moisture profile (ML2X; install on Dec. 7, 2013, -0.02, -0.04, -0.1, -0.2, -0.4, -0.6 and -1.0 m). The observations included the following: air temperature and humidity (Ta_28 m; RH_28 m) (℃ and %, respectively), wind speed (Ws_28 m) (m/s), wind direction (WD_28 m) (°), air pressure (press) (hpa), precipitation (rain) (mm), four-component radiation (DR, incoming shortwave radiation; UR, outgoing shortwave radiation; DLR_Cor, incoming longwave radiation; ULR_Cor, outgoing longwave radiation; Rn, net radiation) (W/m^2), infrared temperature (IRT_1 and IRT_2) (℃), photosynthetically active radiation of upward and downward (PAR_up and PAR_down) (μmol/ (s m^-2)), soil heat flux (Gs_1, Gs_2 and Gs_3) (W/m^2), soil temperature (Ts_0 cm, Ts_2 cm, Ts_4 cm, Ts_10 cm, Ts_20 cm, Ts_40 cm, Ts_60 cm and Ts_100 cm) (℃), and soil moisture (Ms_2 cm, Ms_4 cm, Ms_10 cm, Ms_20 cm, Ms_40 cm, Ms_60 cm and Ms_100 cm) (%, volumetric water content). The data processing and quality control steps were as follows: (1) The AWS data were averaged over intervals of 10 min for a total of 144 records per day. The missing data were denoted by -6999. (2) Data in duplicate records were rejected. (3) Unphysical data were rejected. (4) The data marked in red are problematic data. (5) The format of the date and time was unified, and the date and time were collected in the same column, for example, date and time: 2013-9-10 10:30. (6) Finally, the naming convention was AWS+ site no. Moreover, suspicious data were marked in red. For more information, please refer to Li et al. (2013) (for hydrometeorological observation network or sites information), Liu et al. (2011) (for data processing) in the Citation section.

A land surface temperature observation system was set up in apple orchard near by the No.17 eddy covariance system of the MUlti-Scale Observation experiment on Evapotranspiration over heterogeneous land surfaces 2012 (MUSOEXE-12). This observation site can offer in situ calibration data of apple trees for TASI, WiDAS and L band sensor used in aerospace experiment. Observation Site: This point is located in a large and homogeneous apple orchard in Zhangye Experiment Field, Gansu Academy of Agricultural Sciences. It’s 4 meters away from southwest of No.17 eddy covariance system, and observation height is 4.55 m. Crown size of observed apple tree is 4 m × 4 m. Underlying surface of observation site is mainly apple trees. The coordinates of this site: 38°50′41.70" N，100°22′11.40" E. Observation Instrument: The observation system consists of one SI-111 infrared radiometers (Campbell, USA) installed vertically downward to apple tree. Observation Time: This site operates from 3 August, 2012 to 27 September, 2012. Observation data laagered by every 1 minute uninterrupted. Output data contained sample data of every 1 minute. Accessory data: Land surface (apple tree) infrared temperature (by SI-111) can be obtained. Dataset is stored in *.dat file, which can be read by Microsoft excel or other text processing software (UltraEdit, et. al). Table heads meaning: Target_C_Avg, apple tree temperature @ 4.55 m (℃); SBT_C_Avg, body temperature of SI-111 sensor (℃). Dataset is stored day by day, named as: data format + site name + interval time + date + time. The detailed information about data item showed in data header introduction in dataset.

This dataset contains Doppler Weather Radar data from the Zhangye National Climate Observatory during the Watershed Allied Telemetry Experimental Research from 2008-03-08 to 2008-06-30. The latitude and longitude of the observation point are 100°16.8'E, 39°05.094'N; the altitude is 1378m. The main observation items are: rainfall, cloud physics, weather radar, etc.

The dataset of automatic meteorological observations was obtained from Jun. 1, 2008 to Dec. 31, 2009 at the Huazhaizi desert station which is located in Anyangtan (E100°19'06.9″/N38°45'54.7″), south of Zhangye city, Gansu province,. The experimental area, situated in the middle stream of Heihe river, with a flat and open terrain and sparse vegetation cover is an ideal desert observing field. Observation items included the multi-layer (2m and 10m) wind speed and direction, the air temperature, precipitation, the four components of radiation, the surface infrared temperature, the multi-layer soil temperature (5cm, 10cm, 20cm, 40cm, 80cm and 160cm), soil moisture (5cm, 10cm, 20cm, 40cm, 80cm and 160cm) and soil heat flux (5cm & 10cm). The raw data were level0 and the data after basic processes were level1; the data after strict quality control were defined as Level2. The data files were named as follows: station+datalevel+AMS+datadate.. As for detailed information, please refer to “Meteorological and Hydrological Flux Data Guide".

The dataset include the planting structure and area information of major crops in 11 districts and counties of the Heihe River Basin from 2000 to 2012 (grain, wheat, corn, potato, soybean, cotton, oil, vegetables, etc.)

Trough the select tasking, we obtained the WorldView-2 stereo image data in Dayekou Basin production in mid-May 2012. In the same year from July to August, 27 GPS ground control points (GCP) and checkpoints were measured based on the watershed differential GPS control network. Based on the full-field GCPs, the rational polynomial coefficients (RPC) files of WorldView-2 images were corrected in the digital photogrammetry software system. In the stereo model, 60 high-precision tie points evenly distributed were got through image matching technology, and the 1-m and 2-m resolution digital elevation model (DEM) were rapid extracted. Moreover, the DEM was edited in some key areas, such as the shady forest coverage and Dayekou reservoir. The terrain feature points and line data were added to improve the accuracy of the results in large variation of terrain feature. Check points were composed of GPS points and model confidential points, which used for quantitative validation. And they root mean square errors RMSE were 1.9 meters and 1.2 meters respectively, which achieve the requirements of two degree accuracy of 2.0 m at a scale of 1:2000 in high mountains.