This dataset contains the flux measurements from site No.4 eddy covariance system (EC) in the flux observation matrix from 31 May to 17 September, 2012. The site (100.35753° E, 38.87752° N) was located in a residential area in Yingke irrigation district, which is near Zhangye, Gansu Province. The elevation is 1561.87 m. The EC was installed at a height of 4.2 m (6.2 m after 19 August); 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 0.17 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.

The data set contains the observation data of the eddy covariance system of the desert station, which is located along the lower reaches of the Heihe Hydro-meteorological observation network, and the data set covers data from April 28, 2015 to December 31, 2015. The station is located in Ejina Banner, Inner Mongolia, and the underlying surface is desert. The latitude and longitude of the observation station is 100.9872E, 42.1135N, and the altitude 1054m. The height of the eddy covariance system is 4.7 meters, the sampling frequency is 10Hz, the ultrasonic orientation is positive north, and the distance between the ultrasonic wind speed and temperature monitor (CSAT3) and the CO2/H2O analyzer (Li7500) is 15cm. The original observation data of the eddy covariance system is 10 Hz, and the released data is a 30-minute data processed by Eddypro software. The main steps of the processing include: outlier eliminating, delay time correction, coordinates rotation (secondary coordinates rotation), frequency response correction, ultrasonic virtual temperature correction and density (WPL) correction, etc. Meanwhile, the quality evaluation of each flux value was performed,mainly includes atmospheric stability (Δst) test and turbulence similarity (ITC) test. The 30-min flux value output of Eddypro software was also screened: (1) Data from the instrument error was eliminated; (2) Data obtained with one hour before and after precipitation was removed; (3) Data with a deletion rate greater than 10% of the 10 Hz raw data every 30 minutes was eliminated; (4) Observation data of weak turbulence at night (u* less than 0.1 m/s) was excluded. The average period of observation data is 30 minutes, 48 data per day, and the missing data is marked as -6999. The suspicious data caused by instrument drift and other reasons was marked by red fonts. Published observation data include: Date/Time, wind direction(°), horizontal wind speed(m/s), lateral wind speed standard deviation(m/s), ultrasonic virtual temperature (°C), water vapor density (g/m3), carbon dioxide concentration(mg/m3), friction velocity (m/s), length (m), sensible heat flux(W/m2), latent heat flux (W/m2), carbon dioxide flux (mg/(m2s)), sensible heat flux quality identification QA_Hs, latent heat flux quality identification QA_LE, carbon dioxide flux quality identification QA_Fc. The quality identification of sensible heat, latent heat, and carbon dioxide flux is divided into three levels (quality mark 0: (Δst <30, ITC<30); 1: (Δst <100, ITC<100); the rest is 2). The meaning of the data time, such as 0:30 represents an average data of 0:00-0:30; the data is stored in *.xls format. For hydro-meteorological network or station information, please refer to Li et al. (2013). For observation data processing, please refer to Liu et al. (2011).

This dataset includes data recorded by the Qinghai Lake integrated observatory network obtained from an observation system of Meteorological elements gradient of Yulei station on Qinghai lake from January 1 to October 12, 2018. The site (100° 29' 59.726'' E, 36° 35' 27.337'' N) was located on the Yulei Platform in Erlangjian scenic area, Qinghai Province. The elevation is 3209m. The installation heights and orientations of different sensors and measured quantities were as follows: air temperature and humidity profile (HMP155; 12 and 12.5 m above the water surface, towards north), wind speed and direction profile (windsonic; 14 m above the water surface, towards north) , rain gauge (TE525M; 10m above the water surface in the eastern part of the Yulei platform ), four-component radiometer (NR01; 10 m above the water surface, towards south), one infrared temperature sensors (SI-111; 10 m above the water surface, towards south, vertically downward), photosynthetically active radiation (LI190SB; 10 m above the water surface, towards south), water temperature profile (109, -0.2, -0.5, -1.0, -2.0, and -3.0 m). The observations included the following: air temperature and humidity (Ta_12 m, Ta_12.5 m; RH_12 m, RH_12.5 m) (℃ and %, respectively), wind speed (Ws_14 m) (m/s), wind direction (WD_14 m) (°) , 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) (℃), photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) (μmol/ (s m-2)), water temperature (Tw_20cm、Tw_50cm、Tw_100cm、Tw_200cm、Tw_300cm) (℃). 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 other data in addition to the four-component radiation data during January 1 to October 12 were missing because the malfunction of datalogger. 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: 2018-1-1 10:30. Moreover, suspicious data were marked in red.

Taking 2005 as the base year, the future population scenario was predicted by adopting the logistic model of population. This model not only effectively describes the pattern of changes in population and biomass but is also widely applied in the field of economics. The urbanization rate was predicted using the urbanization logistic model. Based on the observed horizontal pattern of urbanization, a predictive model was established by determining the parameters in the parametric equation by applying nonlinear regression. The urban population was calculated by multiplying the predicted population by the urbanization rate. The data represent the non-agricultural population. The logistic model was used to predict the future gross domestic product of each county (or city), and then the economic development level of each county (or city) in each period (in terms of GDP per capita). The corresponding industrial structure scenarios in each period were set, and the output value of each industry was predicted. The trend of industrial structure changes in China and the research area lagged behind the growth in GDP, so the changes were adjusted according to the need for future industrial structure scenarios in the research area.

Due to the short snow duration and thin snow layer on the Tibetan Plateau, dynamic monitoring data for daily fractional snow cover are urgently needed in order to better understand water cycling and other processes. This data set is based on MODIS Snow Cover Daily L3 Global 500 m Grid data and includes the Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI) data product generated from MODIS/Terra data (MOD10A1) and MODIS/Aqua data (MYD10A1). The data are in the .hdf format. The projection method is sinusoidal map projection. Combining the advantages of 90 m SRTM terrain data and fractional snow cover estimation algorithms under multiple cloud coverage types, the fractional snow cover under different cloud coverage conditions can be re-estimated to meet the production requirements of the daily less cloud (< 10%) data products in High Asia. On the basis of this method, the MODIS daily fractional snow cover data set over High Asia (2002-2016) was constructed. By taking the binary snow product under cloudless conditions as a reference, the spatial and temporal comparisons between snow distribution and snow coverage show that the spatio-temporal characteristics of the product and the binary products are highly consistent. Taking the winter of 2013 as an example, when the fractional snow cover is greater than 50%, the correlation can reach 0.8628. This data set provides daily fractional snow cover data for use in studying snow dynamics, the climate and environment, hydrology, energy balance, and disaster assessment in High Asia.

This dataset contains the automatic weather station (AWS) measurements from site No.7 in the flux observation matrix from 28 May to 18 September, 2012. The site (100.36521° E, 38.87676° N) was located in a cropland (maize surface) in Yingke irrigation district, which is near Zhangye, Gansu Province. The elevation is 1556.39 m. The installation heights and orientations of different sensors and measured quantities were as follows: air temperature and humidity (HMP45AC; 5 m, towards north), air pressure (CS100; 2 m), rain gauge (TE525M; 10 m), wind speed and direction (010C/020X; 10 m, towards north), a four-component radiometer (CNR4; 6 m, towards south), two infrared temperature sensors (SI-111; 6 m, vertically downward), soil temperature profile (109; 0, -0.02, -0.04, -0.1, -0.2, -0.4, -0.6, and -1.0 m), soil moisture profile (CS616; -0.02, -0.04, -0.1, -0.2, -0.4, -0.6, and -1.0 m), and soil heat flux (HFP01; 3 duplicates with one below the vegetation and the other between plants, 0.06 m). One of the infrared temperature sensors (IRT_2) was adjusted to a zenith angle of 50° after 6 August. The observations included the following: air temperature and humidity (Ta_5 m and RH_5 m) (℃ and %, respectively), air pressure (press, hpa), precipitation (rain, mm), wind speed (Ws_10 m, m/s), wind direction (WD_10 m, °), 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 IR_2, ℃), soil heat flux (Gs_1, below the vegetation; Gs_2 and Gs_3, W/m^2), soil temperature profile (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 profile (Ms_2 cm, Ms_4 cm, Ms_10 cm, Ms_20 cm, Ms_40 cm, Ms_60 cm, and Ms_100 cm, %). The data processing and quality control steps were as follows. (1) The AWS data were averaged over intervals of 10 min; therefore, there were 144 records per day. The missing data were filled with -6999. (2) Data in duplicate records were rejected. (3) Unphysical data were rejected. (4) In this dataset, the time of 0:10 corresponds to the average data for the period between 0:00 and 0:10; the data were stored in *.xlsx format. (5) Finally, the naming convention was AWS+ site no. Moreover, suspicious data were marked in red. 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.

On 26 July 2012, Wide-angle Infrared Dual-mode line/area Array Scanner (WIDAS) carried by the Harbin Y-12 aircraft was used in a visible near Infrared thermal Dual-mode airborne remote sensing experiment, which is located in the artificial oasis eco-hydrology experimental area (5×5 km). WIDAS includes a CCD camera with a spatial resolution of 0.2 m, a visible near Infrared multispectral camera with five bands scanner (an maximum observation angle 48° and spatial resolution 1 m), and a thermal image camera with a spatial resolution of 4.8 m. The CCD camera data are recorded in DN values processed by mosaic and orthorectification.

The dateset of sun photometer observations was obtained in the Biandukou foci experimental area from Mar. 7 to 17, 2008, simultaneous with MODIS and TM. Those provide reliable data for atmosphere correction of the same period in this area. Atmospheric parameters were measured by CE318. The optical depth in 1020nm, 936nm, 870nm, 670nm and 440nm were all acquired. Column water vapor can also be retrieved according to data in 936 nm. The dataset archived in txt files includes processed data on Mar. 7, 14 and 17 respectively.

The dataset of sun photometer observations was obtained in Linze grassland station, the reed plot A, the saline plot B, the barley plot E, the observation stationof the Linze grassland foci experimental areaand Jingdu hotel of Zhangye city. The optical depth in 1020nm, 936nm, 870nm, 670nm and 440nm were all acquired by CE318 from May 30 to Jun. 11, 2008. And from Jun. 15 to Jul.11, the data of 1640nm, 1020nm, 936nm, 870nm, 670nm, 550nm, 440nm, 380nm and 340nm were acquired. Both measurements were carried out at intervals of 1 minute. Optical depth, rayleigh scattering, aerosol optical depth, the horizontal visibility, air temperature and pressure near land surface, the solar azimuth and zenith could all be further retrieved. Readme file was attached for detail.

This dataset contains the flux measurements from site No.17 eddy covariance system (EC) in the flux observation matrix from 31 May to 17 September, 2012. The site (100.36972° E, 38.84510° N) was located in an orchard (apple tree) in Daman irrigation district, which is near Zhangye, Gansu Province. The elevation is 1559.63 m. The EC was installed at a height of 7 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&EC150) was 0 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.

The dataset of automatic meteorological observations was obtained at the Binggou cold region hydrometerological station (N38°04′/E100°13′), south of Qilian county, Qinghai province, from Sep. 25, 2007 to Dec. 31, 2009. The experimental area with paramo and riverbed gravel, situated in the upper stream valley of Heihe river, is ideal for the flat and open terrain and hills and mountains stretching outwards. The items were multilayer (2m and 10m) of the air temperature and air humidity, the wind speed, the air pressure, precipitation, four components of radiation, the multilayer soil temperature (5cm, 10cm, 20cm, 40cm, 80cm and 120cm), soil moisture (5cm, 10cm, 20cm, 40cm, 80cm and 120cm), and soil heat flux (5cm and 15cm). The raw data were level0 and the data after basic processes were level1, in which ambiguous ones were marked; the data after strict quality control were defined as Level2. The data files were named as follows: station+datalevel+AMS+datadate. Level2 or above were strongly recommended to domestic users. The period from Sep. 25, 2007 to Mar. 12, 2008 was the pre-observing duration, during which hourly precipitation data (fragmented) and the soil temperature and soil moisture data were to be obtained. Stylized observations began from Mar. 12, 2008. As for detailed information, please refer to Meteorological and Hydrological Flux Data Guide.

This dataset contains the flux measurements from site No.5 eddy covariance system (EC) in the flux observation matrix from 3 June to 18 September, 2012. The site (100.35068° E, 38.87574° N) was located in a cropland (maize surface) in Yingke irrigation district, which is near Zhangye, Gansu Province. The elevation is 1567.65 m. The EC was installed at a height of 3 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 0.17 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.