Satellite-based Global Irrigation Water Use data set (2011-2018)

Agricultural irrigation consumes a large amount of available freshwater resources and is the most immediate human disturbance to the natural water cycle process, with accelerated regional water cycles accompanied by cooling effects. Therefore, estimating irrigation water use (IWU) is important for exploring the impact of human activities on the natural water cycle, quantifying water resources budget, and optimizing agricultural water management. However, the current irrigation data are mainly based on the survey statistics, which is scattered and lacks uniformity, and cannot meet the demand for estimating the spatial and temporal changes of IWU. The Global Irrigation Water Use Estimation Dataset (2011-2018) is calculated by the satellite soil moisture, precipitation, vegetation index, and meteorological data (such as incoming radiation and temperature) based on the principle of soil water balance. The framework of IWU estimation in this study coupled the remotely sensed evapotranspiration process module and the data-model fusion algorithm based on differential evolution. The IWU estimates provided from this dataset have small bias at different spatial scales (e.g., regional, state/province and national) compared to traditional discrete survey statistics, such as at Chinese provinces for 2015 (bias = −3.10 km^3), at U.S. states for 2013 (bias = −0.42 km^3), and at various FAO countries (bias = −10.84 km^3). Also, the ensemble IWU estimates show lower uncertainty compared to the results derived from individual precipitation and soil moisture satellite products. The dataset is unified using a global geographic latitude and longitude grid, with associated metadata stored in corresponding NetCDF file. The spatial resolution is about 25 km, the time resolution is monthly, and the time span is 2011-2018. This dataset will help to quantitatively assess the spatial and temporal patterns of agricultural irrigation water use during the historical period and support scientific agricultural water management.

Monthly 0.01°  terrestrial evapotranspiration datasets  over the Tibetan Plateau  from 2000 to 2018

Terrestrial actual evapotranspiration (ETa) is an important component of terrestrial ecosystems because it links the hydrological, energy, and carbon cycles. However, accurately monitoring and understanding the spatial and temporal variability of ETa over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) remains very difficult. Here, the multiyear (2000-2018) monthly ETa on the TP was estimated using the MOD16-STM model supported by datasets of soil properties, meteorological conditions, and remote sensing. The estimated ETa correlates very well with measurements from 9 flux towers, with low root mean square errors (average RMSE = 13.48 mm/month) and mean bias (average MB = 2.85 mm/month), and strong correlation coefficients (R = 0.88) and the index of agreement values (IOA = 0.92). The spatially averaged ETa of the entire TP and the eastern TP (Lon > 90°E) increased significantly, at rates of 1.34 mm/year (p < 0.05) and 2.84 mm/year (p < 0.05) from 2000 to 2018, while no pronounced trend was detected on the western TP (Lon < 90°E). The spatial distribution of ETa and its components were heterogeneous, decreasing from the southeastern to northwestern TP. ETa showed a significantly increasing trend in the eastern TP, and a significant decreasing trend throughout the year in the southwestern TP, particularly in winter and spring. Soil evaporation (Es) accounted for more than 84% of ETa and the spatial distribution of temporal trends was similar to that of ETa over the TP. The amplitudes and rates of variations in ETa were greatest in spring and summer. The multi-year averaged annual terrestrial ETa (over an area of 2444.18×103 km2) was 376.91±13.13 mm/year, equivalent to a volume of 976.52±35.7 km3/year. The average annual evapotranspirated water volume over the whole TP (including all plateau lakes, with an area of 2539.49×103 km2) was about 1028.22±37.8 km3/year. This new estimated ETa dataset is useful for investigating the hydrological impacts of land cover change and will help with better management of watershed water resources across the TP.

Annual Iceberg Calving Dataset of the Antarctic Ice Shelves (2005-2020)

Iceberg calving, one of the key process of Antarctic mass balance, has been regarded as an important variable in fine monitoring the changes of ice shelves. The authors used multi-source remote sensing data near early August of each year from 2005 to 2020, including ENVISAT ASAR (WSM) images from 2005 to 2011, Terra/Aqua MODIS 7-2-1 band composite images from 2012 to 2014, Landsat-8 OLI 4-3-2 band composite images from 2013 to 2020, and Sentinel-1 SAR (EW) images from 2015 to 2020, to generate annual circum-Antarctic image mosaics after pre-processing. Next, combining MEaSUREs ice velocity dataset, grounding line, ice thickness dataset (Bedmap 2 and Bedmachine), spatial calculation and map digitization techniques were applied to extract all annual calving events larger than 1 km² that occurred on the Antarctic ice shelves from August 2005 to August 2020. Also, their area, thickness, mass and calving recurrence cycle were calculated to derive the annual iceberg calving dataset of the Antarctic ice shelves (2005-2020). This dataset contains the distribution of 15-year annual calving events, along with the attributes of each individual calving event including calving year, length, area, average thickness, mass, and recurrence interval. This dataset can directly reflect the magnitude characteristics and distribution of Antarctic iceberg calving in different years, which fills the gap of fine monitoring dataset of iceberg calving and provides fundamental data for subsequent research on calving mechanism and mass balance of Antarctic ice shelf-ice sheet system.

Distribution of potential glacial lakes in the Tibetan Plateau and its surroundings

The dataset of of potential glacial lakes (PGLs) distribution in the Tibetan Plateau and its surrounding (TPS) are vector data (. SHP). The data set contains the ID, area, perimeter, volume and elevation of each PGL. The TPS region was divided into 17 subregions based on the river basins’ borders, including 8 outflow river basins, i.e., the Yellow, Yangtze, Mekong, Salween, Brahmaputra, Ganges, Indus, and Ob river basins, and 9 exorheic river basins, i.e., the Qiangtang, Hexi, Tarim, Qiadam, Junggar, Yili, Syr Darya, Amu Darya, and Mongolia river basins. This data is processed from theGlacier ice thickness distribution dataset (provided by Farinotti et al. (2019)). The grid difference between the initial DEM and the glacier ice thickness distribution was used to produce the DEM without glaciers. The overdeepenings were detected via two steps. First, we filled the depressions of the DEM without glaciers using a hydrology tool in the ArcGIS software. Second, using the filled DEM to subtract the DEM without glaciers, we ascertained the PGLs’ locations, areas, depths, and volumes. The quality of this data set depends on the quality of the original glacier thickness data, and the quality of the ice thickness dataset is the best of all similar data at present. The dataset of of potential glacial lakes distribution in the Tibetan Plateau and its surroundings can provide a new perspective from which to understand the future formation and evolution of glacial lakes in the TPS. It is anticipated that approximately 16,000 PGLs areas of greater than 0.02 km2 will be formed in the TPS, covering an area of 2253.95 ± 1291.29 km2 and holding a water volume of 60.49 ± 28.94 km3, which would contribute to a 0.16 ± 0.08 mm equivalent sea-level rise.

A new Greenland digital elevation model derived from ICESat-2

Greenland digital elevation models (DEMs) are indispensable to fieldwork, ice velocity calculations, and mass change estimations. Previous DEMs have provided reasonable estimations for the entire Greenland, but the time span of applied source data may lead to mass change estimation bias. To provide a DEM with a specific time-stamp, we applied approximately 5.8×108 ICESat-2 observations from November 2018 to November 2019 to generate a new DEM, including the ice sheet and glaciers in peripheral Greenland. A spatiotemporal model fit process was performed at 500 m, 1,2, and 5 km grid cells separately, and the final DEM was posted at the modal resolution of 500 m. A total of 98% of the grids were obtained by the model fit, and the remaining DEM gaps were estimated via the ordinary Kriging interpolation method. Compared with IceBridge mission data acquired by the Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM) Lidar system, the ICESat-2 DEM was estimated to have a maximum median difference of -0.48 m. The performance of the grids obtained by model fit and interpolation was similar, which both agreed well with the IceBridge data. DEM uncertainty rises in regions of low latitude and high slope or roughness. Furthermore, the ICESat-2 DEM showed significant accuracy improvements compared with other altimeter-derived DEMs, and the accuracy was comparable to those derived from stereo-photogrammetry and interferometry. Overall, the ICESat-2 DEM showed excellent accuracy stability under various topographic conditions, which can provide a specific time-stamped DEM with high accuracy that will be useful to study Greenland elevation and mass balance changes.