The dataset of LST (Land Surface Temperature) observations was obtained by three handheld infrared thermometers (5# and 6# from Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, and also one from Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources, which were all calibrated) in the Linze station foci experimental area. The temperature was measured 14-30 times in 40 subplots of the west-east desert strip on May 24, 25 and 28, 2008, 12-30 times in 9 subplots of north-south strip on May 24, 25 and 28, 17 times from P1 to P6 strips on Jul. 4 and 8, three times of 147 points along LY06 strip on Jun. 6, 15, 29 and Jul. 11, LY07 strip on May 30, Jun. 6, 15, 29 and Jul. 11 and LY08 strip on May 30, Jun. 6 and 10, and three times in Wulidun farmland quadrates on May 25, Jun. 29 and Jul. 11. Calibration was carried out in the desert on May 25, and in Pingchuan reservoir on May 30. Data were archived as Excel files. See the metadata record “WATER: Dataset of setting of the sampling plots and stripes in the Linze station foci experimental area” for more information of the quadrate locations.

The scanned picture of the Map of Snow Ice and Frozen Ground in China (1:4,000,000) (Shi Yafeng, Meidesheng, 1988) is geometrically corrected and then digitized in the data set, and by taking altitude and latitude into account in combination with the continuity of permafrost, the frozen soil is divided into the predominant permafrost of high-latitude permafrost, island talik permafrost and island permafrost; high-altitude permafrost and mountain permafrost (including Altai, Tianshan Mountain, Qilian Mountain, Hengduan, the Himalayas and Taibai Mountain in East China, Huanggangliang and Changbai Mountain), and the plateau permafrost (the Tibetan Plateau), which is divided into predominant permafrost and island permafrost; and seasonal frozen soil, instantaneous frozen soil and nonfrozen areas.

The No. 7 hydrological section is located at Pingchuan Heihe River Bridge (100.097° E, 39.334° N, 1375 m) in the midstream of the Heihe River Basin, Zhangye city, Gansu Province. The dataset contains observations recorded by the No.7 hydrological section from 17 June, 2012, to 31 December, 2013. The width of this section is 130 meters. The water level was measured using an SR50 ultrasonic range and the discharge was measured using cross-section reconnaissance by the StreamPro ADCP. The dataset includes the following parameters: water level (recorded every 30 minutes) and discharge. The missing and incorrect (outside the normal range) data were replaced with -6999. For more information, please refer to Li et al. (2013) (for hydrometeorological observation network or sites information), He et al. (2016) (for data processing) in the Citation section.

This dataset contains the flux measurements from the Bajitan Gobi station eddy covariance system (EC) in the flux observation matrix from 31 May to 15 September, 2012. The site (100.30420° E, 38.91496° N) was located in Gobi surface, which is near Zhangye, Gansu Province. The elevation is 1562.00 m. The EC was installed at a height of 4.6 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 (CSAT3&Li7500) was 0.15 m. 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 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. 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.

Er’ba Reservoir surface temperature of water body can offer in situ calibration data for TASI, WiDAS and L band sensor used in aerospace experiment. Observation Site: This site is 14 KM away from East of ZhangYe city. It’s located in Er’ba village, JianTan town, ZhangYe city. The coordinates of this site: 38°54′57.14" N, 100°36′57.39" E. Observation Instrument: The observation system consists of two SI-111 infrared radiometers (Campbell, USA) and two 109SS temperature probes (Campbell, USA). Two SI-111 sensors, one installed vertically downward to water surface, another face to south of zenith angle 35°. Temperature probes float under water surface at 0 cm. SI-111 sensor installed at 3.0 m height, 3.4 m away from water edge. Observation Time: This site operates from 27 May, 2012 to 27 September, 2012. Observation data laagered by every 5 seconds uninterrupted. Output data contained sample data of every 5 seconds and mean data of 1 minute. Accessory data： Water surface infrared temperature (by SI-111), sky infrared temperature (by SI-111), water surface temperature (by 109ss) 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: TarT_Atm, Sky infrared temperature (℃) @ facing south of zenith angle 35°; SBT_Atm, body temperature of SI-111 sensor (℃) measured sky; TarT_Sur, water surface infrared temperature @ 3.0 m height; SBT_Sur, body temperature of SI-111 sensor (℃) measured water surface; WaterT_1, WaterT_2, water surface temperature (℃) measured by 109SS temperature probes. 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.

The data set provided the cloudless Fractional Snow Cover area (FSC) time-series product basing on the MODIS data and covered the Heihe River Basin from January 2010 to December 2013. They also provide the high spatial (500 m) and temporal (1 day) resolution. Firstly, the end-member were automatically extracted by the fast autonomous spectral end-member determination (N-FINDR) maximizing volume iteration algorithm. Combining N-FINDR with the orthogonal subspace projection (OSP) approach, we propose an improved end-member extraction algorithm using a maximizing, volume-based iterative method. All the 6 end-members were extracted including snow, soil, water, bare land, vegetation, and cloud, respectively. Then, the 10-day spectral library time series based on prior knowledge of Heihe basin are built for 2009. The primary data were produced using the fully constrained least squares (FCLS) linear spectral mixture analysis method by the spectral library. Finally，the cubic spline interpolation algorithm were used to the eliminate the cloud pixels completely and obtain the data set. The data are validated by the fractional snow cover derived from Landsat imagery and the results indicate that the improved algorithm can obtain the end-member information accurately, and the retrieved fractional snow cover has better accuracy than the MODIS fractional snow-cover product (MOD10A1). So the data set can provide more accurate input for the hydrology and climate model.

The dataset of ground truth measurement synchronizing with the airborne LiDAR mission and Envisat ASAR was obtained in the Yingke oasis and Huazhaizi desert steppe foci experimental areas on Jun. 19, 2008. The Envisat ASAR data were in AP mode and VV/VH polarization combinations, and the overpass time was approximately at 11:17 (Beijing Time). The observation item was soil moisture by TDR ( the probe with a length of 5cm) in the maize plot of Yingke oasis station, the wheat plot and some temporary sample points (details in GPS.txt).

The parameter inversion study project of soil moisture and snow water equivalent on the Tibetan Plateau in the past 20 years is part of the key research plan of Environmental and Ecological Science for West China of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The person in charge is Jiancheng Shi, a researcher at the Institute of Remote Sensing Applications of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The project ran from January 2004 to December 2007. The data collection of the project: the Monthly MODIS Snow Cover Product of Tibetan Plateau (2001-2005). Based on the image data acquired by MODIS, combined with ASTER image data, the data set carried out snow cover area classification and change analysis at a subpixel level on the Tibetan Plateau. The research mainly focused on studying the subpixel snow cover area classification algorithm, including the statistical regression method and the mixed-pixel decomposition method using the normalized snow index. In the mixed-pixel decomposition, a linear mixed model was adopted, and snow and non-snow end members were automatically extracted using the normalized snow index and the normalized vegetation index. On the basis of the subpixel snow cover area classification algorithm, the snow cover area variation on the Tibetan Plateau was analyzed. Using the method of establishing a decision tree, clouds and snow were detected, cloud-removal was performed, and the subpixel of the Tibetan Plateau was formed by synthesis and mosaicking of the time series images. The snow cover area classification database analyzes and describes the spatial distribution and variation characteristics of the snow cover area of the Tibetan Plateau.

The dataset includes soil physical and chemical attributes: pH value, organic matter fraction, cation exchange capacity, root abundance, total nitrogen (N), total phosphorus (P), total potassium (K), alkali-hydrolysable N, available P, available K, exchangeable H+, Al3+, Ca2+, Mg2+, K+ , Na+, horizon thickness, soil profile depth, sand, silt and clay fractions, rock fragment, bulk density, porosity, structure, consistency and soil color. Quality control information (QC) was provided. The resolution is 30 arc-seconds (about 1 km at the equator). The vertical variation of soil property was captured by eight layers to the depth of 2.3 m (i.e. 0- 0.045, 0.045- 0.091, 0.091- 0.166, 0.166- 0.289, 0.289- 0.493, 0.493- 0.829, 0.829- 1.383 and 1.383- 2.296 m) for convenience of use in the Common Land Model and the Community Land Model (CLM). 1.THSCH.nc: Saturated water content of FCH 2.PSI_S.nc: Saturated capillary potential of FCH 3.LAMBDA.nc: Pore size distribution index of FCH 4.K_SCH.nc: Saturate hydraulic conductivity of FCH 5.THR.nc: Residual moisture content of FGM 6.THSGM.nc: Saturated water content of FGM 7.ALPHA.nc: The inverse of the air-entry value of FGM 8.N.nc: The shape parameter of FGM 9.L.nc: The pore-connectivity parameter of FGM 10.K_SVG.nc: Saturated hydraulic conductivity of FGM 11.TH33.nc: Water content at -33 kPa of suction pressure, or field capacity 12.TH1500.nc: Water content at -1500 kPa of suction pressure, or permanent wilting point

Antarctic 1:100,000 airport distribution data set includes vector space data and related attribute data of airports (Antarctic_Airport) and airport runways (Antarctic_Airport_runways)：Airport Name(Name), airport country Name（CNTRY_NAME）, airport country abbreviation（CNTRY_CODE）, LATITUDE, LONGITUDE. The data comes from the 1:100,000 ADC_WorldMap global data set，The data through topology, warehousing and other data quality inspection，Data through the topology, into the library，It's comprehensive, up-to-date and seamless geodigital data. The world map coordinate system is latitude and longitude, WGS84 datum surface，Antarctic specific projection parameters（South_Pole_Stereographic）.

The dataset of airborne Polarimetric L-band Multibeam Radiometers (PLMR) was acquired on 2 August, 2012, located in the middle reaches of the Heihe River Basin. The aircraft took off at 9:00 am (UTC+8) from Zhangye airport and landed at 14:00 pm, with the flight time of 5 hours. The flight was performed in the altitude of about 2300 m and at the speed of about 220-250 km during the observation, corresponding to an expected ground resolution of about 700 m. The PLMR instrument flown on a small aircraft operates at 1.413 GHz (L-band), with both H- and V-polarizations at incidence angles of ±7.5°, ±21.5° and ±38.5°. PLMR ‘warm’ and ‘cold’ calibrations were performed before and after each flight. The processed PLMR data include 2 DAT files (v-pol and h-pol separately) and 1 KMZ file for each flying day. The DAT file contains all the TB values together with their corresponding beam ID, incidence angle, location, time stamp (in UTC) and other flight attitude information as per headings. The KMZ file shows the gridded 1-km TB values corrected to 38.5 degrees together with flight lines. Cautions should be taken when using these data, as the RFI contaminations are often higher than expected at v-polarization.

The fractional vegetation cover observation was carried out for the typical underlying surface in the lower reaches of the Heihe River Basin during the aviation flight experiment in 2014. The observation started on 24 July, 2014 and finished on 1 August, 2014. 1. Observation time On days of 24 July, 27 July, 30 July, 31 July and 1 August, 2014 2. Samples method Large areas with homogeneous vegetation (greater than 100 m * 100 m) were chosen as the observation samples. And forty field samples were selected according to the characteristics of vegetation distribution in the low reaches. The land-use types including the cantaloupe, the Tamarix chinensis, the reeds, the weeds, the Karelinia caspica, the Sophora alopecuroides and so on. 3. Observation methods 3.1 Instruments and measurement method Digital photography measurement is implemented to measure the FVC. Plot positions, photographic method and data processing method are dedicatedly designed. In field measurements, a long stick with the camera mounted on one end is beneficial to conveniently measure various species of vegetation, enabling a larger area to be photographed with a smaller field of view. The stick can be used to change the camera height; a fixed-focus camera can be placed at the end of the instrument platform at the front end of the support bar, and the camera can be operated by remote control. 3.2 Photographic method The photographic method used depends on the species of vegetation and planting pattern. A long stick with the camera mounted on one end is used for the Tamarix chinensisi and reeds. For the Tamarix chinensisi and reeds, rows of more than two cycles should be included in the field of view (<30), and the side length of the image should be parallel to the row. If there are no more than two complete cycles, then information regarding row spacing and plant spacing are required. The FVC of the entire cycle, that is, the FVC of the quadrat, can be obtained from the number of rows included in the field of view. For other vegetation , the photos of FVC were obtained by directly photographing for the lower heights of the vegetation. 3.3 Method for calculating the FVC The detail method of the FVC calculation can be found in the reference below. Many methods are available to extract the FVC from digital images, and the degree of automation and the precision of identification are important factors that affect the efficiency of field measurements. This method, which is proposed by the authors, has the advantages of a simple algorithm, a high degree of automation and high precision, as well as ease of operation (see the reference). 4 Data storage The observation recorded data were stored in excel and the original FVC data were stored in photos.