HiWATER: Simultaneous observation dataset of land surface temperature in the middle reaches of the Heihe River Basin

The aim of the simultaneous observation of land surface temperature is obtaining the land surface temperature of different kinds of underlying surface, including greenhouse film, the roof, road, ditch, concrete floor and so on, while the sensor of thermal infrared go into the experimental areas of artificial oases eco-hydrology on the middle stream. All the land surface temperature data will be used for validation of the retrieved land surface temperature from thermal infrared sensor and the analysis of the scale effect of the land surface temperature, and finally serve for the validation of the plausibility checks of the surface temperature product from remote sensing. 1. Observation time and other details On 25 June, 2012, ditch and asphalt road surface temperatures were observed once every five minutes using handheld infrared thermometers recorded. On 26 June, 2012, ditch and asphalt road surface temperatures were observed once every five minutes using handheld infrared thermometers while greenhouse film and concrete floor surface temperatures were observed once every one second using self-recording point thermometer. On 29 June, 2012, concrete floor surface temperatures were observed continuously using handheld infrared thermometers during the sensor of TASI go into the region. At the same time, greenhouse film and concrete floor surface temperatures were observed once every one second using self-recording point thermometer. On 30 June, 2012, asphalt road, ditch, bare soil, melonry and ridge of field surface temperatures were observed continuously using handheld infrared thermometers during the sensor of TASI go into the region. At the same time, greenhouse film and concrete floor surface temperatures were observed once every one second using self-recording point thermometer. On 10 July, 2012, asphalt road, ditch, bare soil, melonry and ridge of field surface temperatures were observed once every one minute using handheld infrared thermometers during the sensor of TASI go into the region. At the same time, concrete floor surface temperatures were observed once every six second using self-recording point thermometer. On 26 July, 2012, asphalt road, concrete floor, bare soil and melonry surface temperatures were observed once every one minute using handheld infrared thermometers during the sensor of WiDAS go into the region. At the same time, greenhouse film and concrete floor surface temperatures were observed once every six second using self-recording point thermometer. On 2 August, 2012, corn field and concrete floor surface temperatures were observed using handheld infrared thermometers. At the same time, greenhouse film and concrete floor surface temperatures were observed once every six second using self-recording point thermometer. For corn field, twelve sites were selected according to the flight strip of the WiDAS sensor, and for each site one plot surface temperatures were recorded continuously during the sensor of WiDAS go into the region. On 3 August, 2012, corn field and concrete floor surface temperatures were observed using handheld infrared thermometers. At the same time, greenhouse film and concrete floor surface temperatures were observed once every six second using self-recording point thermometer. For corn field, fourteen sites were selected according to the flight strip of the WiDAS sensor, and for each site three plots surface temperatures were recorded continuously during the sensor of WiDAS go into the region. 2. Instrument parameters and calibration The field of view of the self-recording point thermometer and the handheld infrared thermometer are 10 and 1 degree, respectively. The emissivity of the latter was assumed to be 0.95. The observation heights of the self-recording point thermometer for the greenhouse film and the concrete floor were 0.5 m and 1 m, respectively. All instruments were calibrated three times (on 6 July, 5 August and 20 September, 2012) using black body during observation. 3. Data storage All the observation data were stored in excel.

HiWATER: Dataset of photosynthesis observed by LI-6400 in the middle reaches of the Heihe River Basin

The dataset of photosynthesis was observed by LI-6400XT Portable Photosynthesis System in the artificial oasis eco-hydrology experimental area of the Heihe River Basin. Observation items included two main crops in the middle reaches of Heihe river: wheat and maize, which located in the town of Pingchuan in Linze and the Super Station of Wuxing, respectively. Observation periods lasted from mid-May to September. This dataset included the raw observation data and the pretreatment data of wheat and maize observed by LI-6400 during the observation periods. Objectives of observation: The photosynthetic datasets can be used in the study of plant physiological ecology characteristic and the simulation and validation for the eco-hydrological models. Instrument and theory of the observation: (1) Measuring instrument: LI-6400XT Portable Photosynthesis System; (2) Measuring theory: Using the infrared gas analyzer to measure the change of CO2 concentration, and then measuring the differences of CO2 concentration between the sample chamber and the referenced chamber so as to acquire the net productivity of the leaf. Time and site of observation: (1) Observation site of the wheat: in the town of Pingchuan in Linze; Observation time: 2012-05-17,2012-06-08 to 2012-6-13; (2) Observation site of the maize: in the Super Station of Wuxing; Observation time: from 2012-05-19 to 2012-08-15. The time used in this dataset is in UTC+8 Time. Data processing: The raw data of LI-6400 were archived in text format and can be opened by text editor or excel, the preprocessed data were in Excel format. Every time period of observation was archived in a single document, named as “date + type + time”, every leaf was recorded 3 times, and then added a remark.

Dataset on atmospheric water cycle changes and the impact in a key area of the Tibetan Plateau under the background of global warming (2008)

The assessment of changes in the atmospheric water cycle and the associated impacts in a key area of the Tibetan Plateau under the background of the global warming was a major component of the research project “The Environmental and Ecological Science of West China” run by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The leading executive of the project was Xiangde Xu from the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences. The project ran from January 2006 to December 2008. The following data were collected by the project of the Sino-Japan Joint Research Center of Meteorological Disaster (JICA Project): 1. Observation category, time period and number of stations 1) JICA AWS data: From January to July of 2008, 73 automatic stations (including 5 automatic stations of the Chinese Academy of Sciences) collected data in Tibet, Yunnan, Sichuan and other provinces or autonomous regions. 2) JICA GPS water vapour data: From January to October of 2008, 24 observation stations collected data in Tibet, Yunnan, Sichuan and other provinces or autonomous regions. 3) JICA encrypted observation GPS sonde data: From March to July of 2008, observations were made in Tibet, Yunnan, Sichuan and other provinces or autonomous regions (detailed observation time and location data can be found in the data catalogue). 2. Observation categories, data content 1) GPS water vapour Data content: serial number, station name (Chinese), station number, longitude, latitude, altitude, year, month, day, time, surface pressure, surface air temperature, relative humidity, total delay (m), precipitation (cm) (Measurement interval: 1 hour). 2) GPS encrypted sonde Data content: air pressure P, temperature T, relative humidity RH, V component, U component, vertical height H, dew point temperature Td, water vapour content Mr, wind direction Wd, wind speed Ws, longitude Lon, latitude Lat, radar height RdH. A value of "-999.90" means no observation data. 3) AWS Data content: station number, longitude, latitude, elevation, site level, total cloud volume, wind direction, wind speed, sea level pressure, 3-hour pressure variable, past weather 1, past weather 2, 6-hour precipitation, low cloud form, low cloud volume, low cloud height, dew point, visibility, current weather, temperature, medium cloud form, high cloud form, 24-hour temperature variable, 24-hour pressure variable. Project Science Advisers: Guoguang Zheng, Xiaofeng Xu, Xiuji Zhou, Zechun Li, Jifan Niu, Jianmin Xu, Lianshou Chen, Dahe Qin, Yihui Ding Project Superintendent: Jixin Yu Project Executives: Renhe Zhang, Xiangde Xu Data set hosting organizations: Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, JICA Project Implementation Expert Group, State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, JICA Project Implementation Office. Collaborative organizations involved in the production of the data set: Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, National Satellite Meteorological Center, The Research Center for Atmospheric Sounding Techniques, National Meteorological Center, National Meteorological Information Center, National Climate Center, Sichuan Meteorological Department, Yunnan Meteorological Department, Tibet Autonomous Region Meteorological Department, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin Meteorological Department. Data set implementation organizations: Beijing Headquarters of JICA Project; JICA Project Sub-center in Sichuan Province, Yunnan Province, Tibet Autonomous Region and Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

HiWATER: The multi-scale observation experiment on evapotranspiration over heterogeneous land surfaces 2012 (MUSOEXE-12)-dataset of flux observation matrix ( No.1 eddy covariance system)

This dataset contains the flux measurements from site No.1 eddy covariance system (EC) in the flux observation matrix from 4 June to 17 September 2012. The site (100.35813° E, 38.89322° N) was located in a cropland (vegetable surface) in the Yingke irrigation district, which is near Zhangye, Gansu Province. The elevation is 1552.75 m. The EC was installed at a height of 3.8 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 0.2 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.

Vulnerability forecast scenarios dataset of water resources, agriculture, ecosystem of Aksu River Basin (Version 1.0) (2010-2050)

By applying supply-demand balance analysis, the water resource supply and demand of the whole river basin and each county or district were calculated, and the results were used to assess the vulnerability of the water resources system in the basin. The IPAT equation was used to establish a future water resource demand scenario, which involved setting various variables, such as the future population growth rate, economic growth rate, and water consumption per unit GDP. By taking 2005 as the base year and using assorted forecasting data of population size and economic scale, the future water demand scenarios of various counties and cities from 2010 to 2050 were predicted. By applying the basic structure of the HBV conceptual hydrological model of the Swedish Hydro-meteorological Institute, a model of the variation trends of the basin under a changing climate was designed. The glacial melting scenario was used as the model input to construct the runoff scenario in response to climate change. According to the national regulations of the water resource allocation in the basin, a water distribution plan was set up to calculate the water supply comprehensively. Considering the supply and demand situation, the water resource system vulnerability was evaluated by the water shortage rate. By calculating the grain production-related land pressure index of the major counties and cities in the basin, the balance of supply and demand of land resources in scenarios of climate change, glacial melting and population growth was analysed, and the vulnerability of the agricultural system was evaluated. The Miami formula and HANPP model were used to calculate the human appropriation of net primary biomass and primary biomass in the major counties and cities in the future, and the vulnerability of ecosystems from the perspective of supply and demand balance was assessed.