This data set comprises the plateau soil moisture and soil temperature observational data based on the Tibetan Plateau, and it is used to quantify the uncertainty of model products of coarse-resolution satellites, soil moisture and soil temperature. The observation data of soil temperature and moisture on the Tibetan Plateau (Tibet-Obs) are from in situ reference networks at four regional scales, which are the Nagqu network of cold and semiarid climate, the Maqu network of cold and humid climate, and the Ali network of cold and arid climate，and Pali network. These networks provided representative coverage of different climates and surface hydrometeorological conditions on the Tibetan Plateau. - Temporal resolution: 1hour - Spatial resolution: point measurement - Measurement accuracy: soil moisture, 0.00001; soil temperature, 0.1 °C; data set size: soil moisture and temperature measurements at nominal depths of 5, 10, 20, 40 - Unit: soil moisture, cm ^ 3 cm ^ -3; soil temperature, °C

The field observation platform of the Tibetan Plateau is the forefront of scientific observation and research on the Tibetan Plateau. The land surface processes and environmental changes based comprehensive observation of the land-boundary layer in the Tibetan Plateau provides valuable data for the study of the mechanism of the land-atmosphere interaction on the Tibetan Plateau and its effects. This dataset integrates the 2005-2016 hourly atmospheric, soil hydrothermal and turbulent fluxes observations of Qomolangma Atmospheric and Environmental Observation and Research Station, Chinese Academy of Sciences (QOMS/CAS), Southeast Tibet Observation and Research Station for the Alpine Environment, CAS (SETORS), the BJ site of Nagqu Station of Plateau Climate and Environment, CAS (NPCE-BJ), Nam Co Monitoring and Research Station for Multisphere Interactions, CAS (NAMORS), Ngari Desert Observation and Research Station, CAS (NADORS), Muztagh Ata Westerly Observation and Research Station, CAS (MAWORS). It contains gradient observation data composed of multi-layer wind speed and direction, temperature, humidity, air pressure and precipitation data, four-component radiation data, multi-layer soil temperature and humidity and soil heat flux data, and turbulence data composed of sensible heat flux, latent heat flux and carbon dioxide flux. These data can be widely used in the analysis of the characteristics of meteorological elements on the Tibetan Plaetau, the evaluation of remote sensing products and development of the remote sensing retrieval algorithms, and the evaluation and development of numerical models.

The distribution of lakes in space and its change over time are closely related to agricultural, environmental and ecological issues, and are critical factors for human socio-economic development. In the past decades, satellite based remote sensing has been developed rapidly to provide essential data sources for monitoring temporal lakes dynamics with its advantage of rapidness, wide coverage, and lower cost. This dataset was produced from Landsat images using the automated water detection method (Feng et al, 2015). We collected 96,278 Landsat images (about 25 terabytes) that acquired since 2000 with less than 80% cloud contamination in the arid region of central Asia and Tibetan Plateau. Water is detected in each of the image and then aggregated to monthly temporal resolution by taking advantage of the high-performance processing capability and large data storage provided by Global Land Cover Facility (GLCF) at University of Maryland. The results are validated systematically and quantitatively using manually interpreted dataset, which consists of a set of locations collected by a stratified random sampling strategy to effectively represent different spatial-temporal distributions in the region. The validation suggests high accuracy of the results (overall accuracy: 99.45(±0.59); user accuracy: 85.37%±(3.74); produce accuracy: 98.17(±1.05)).

A multi-layer soil particle-size distribution dataset (sand, silt and clay content), based on USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) standard for regional land and climate modelling in China. was developed The 1:1,000,000 scale soil map of China and 8595 soil profiles from the Second National Soil Survey served as the starting point for this work. We reclassified the inconsistent soil profiles into the proper soil type of the map as much as possible because the soil classification names of the map units and profiles were not quite the same. The sand, silt and clay maps were derived using the polygon linkage method, which linked soil profiles and map polygons considering the distance between them, the sample sizes of the profiles, and soil classification information. For comparison, a soil type linkage was also generated by linking the map units and soil profiles with the same soil type. The quality of the derived soil fractions was reliable. Overall, the map polygon linkage offered better results than the soil type linkage or the Harmonized World Soil Database. The dataset, with a 1-km resolution, can be applied to land and climate modelling at a regional scale. Data characteristics： projection：projection Coverage: China Resolution: 0.00833 (about 1 km) Data format: FLT, TIFF Value range: 0%-100% Document describing： Floating point raster files include: Sand1. FLT, clay1. FLT -- surface (0-30cm) sand, clay content. Sand2. FLT, clay2. FLT -- content of sand and clay in the bottom layer (30-100cm). PSD. HDR -- header file: Ncols - the number of columns Nrows- rows Xllcorner - latitude in the lower left corner Yllcorner - longitude of the lower left corner Cellsize - cellsize NODATA_value - a null value byteorder - LSBFIRST, Least Significant Bit First TIFF raster files include: Sand1. Tif, clay1. Tif - surface (0-30cm) sand, clay content. Sand2. Tif, clay2. Tif - bottom layer (30-100cm) sand, clay content.

This dataset uses daily temperature data from SMMR (1978-1987), SSM/I (1987-2009) and SSMIS (2009-2015). It is generated by the dual-index (TB, 37v, SG) freeze-thaw discrimination algorithm. The classification results include the frozen surface, the thawed surface, the deserts and water bodies. The data coverage is the main part of China’s mainland, with a spatial resolution of 25.067525 km via the EASE-Grid projection method, and it is stored in ASCIIGRID format. All the ASCII files in this data set can be opened directly with a text program such as Notepad. Except for the head file, the body content is numerically characterized by the freeze/thaw status of the surface soil: 1 for frozen, 2 for thawed, 3 for desert, and 4 for precipitation. If you want to use the icon for display, we recommend using the ArcView + 3D or Spatial Analyst extension module for reading; in the process of reading, a grid format file will be generated, and the displayed grid file is the graphical expression of the ASCII file. The read method comprises the following. [1] Add the 3D or Spatial Analyst extension module to the ArcView software and then create a new View. [2] Activate View, click File menu, and select the Import Data Source option. When the Import Data Source selection box pops up, select ASCII Raster in the Select import file type box. When the dialog box for selecting the source ASCII file automatically pops up, click to find any ASCII file in the data set, and then press OK. [3] Type the name of the Grid file in the Output Grid dialog box (it is recommended that a meaningful file name is used for later viewing) and click the path to store the Grid file, press OK again, and then press Yes (to select integer data) and Yes (to put the generated grid file into the current view). The generated files can be edited according to the Grid file standard. This completes the process of displaying an ASCII file into a Grid file. [4] In the batch processing, the ASCIGRID command of ARCINFO can be used to write AML files, and then use the Run command to complete the process in the Grid module: Usage: ASCIIGRID <in_ascii_file> <out_grid> {INT | FLOAT}. The production of this data is supported by the following Natural Science Foundation Projects: Environmental and Ecological Science Data Center of West China (90502010), Land Data Assimilation System of West China (90202014) and Active and Passive Microwave Radiation Transmission Simulation and Radiation Scattering Characteristics of the Frozen Soil (41071226).