This dataset contains the flux measurements from site No.8 eddy covariance system (EC) in the flux observation matrix from 28 May to 21 September, 2012. The site (100.37649° E, 38.87254° N) was located in a cropland (maize surface) in Yingke irrigation district, which is near Zhangye, Gansu Province. The elevation is 1550.06 m. The EC was installed at a height of 3.2 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.

The dataset of LST (land surface temperature) observed by the thermal camera (ThermaCAM SC2000 and ThermaCAM S60) at 24°×18° was obtained in the Yingke oasis, Huazhaizi desert steppe and Linze grassland foci experimental areas on May 20, 24,28 and 30, Jun. 1, 4, 16 and 29, Jul. 7, 8 and 11, 2008. Meanwhile, the optical photos were acquired in Yingke oasis maize field, Huazhaizi desert No. 1 and 2 plots, Huazhaizi desert maize field and Linze grassland. The dataset of ground truth measurement was synchronizing with WiDAS (Wide-angle Infrared Dual-mode line/area Array Scanner), OMIS-II, Landsat TM and ASTER.

The No. 5 hydrological section is located at Ban Bridge (100.276° E, 39.259° N, 1398 m) in the midstream of the Heihe River Basin, Zhangye city, Gansu Province. The dataset contains observations recorded by the No.5 hydrological section from 19 June, 2012, to 10 August, 2012. The width of this section is 270 meters. The water level was measured using an HOBO pressure 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.

On 29 June 2012 (UTC+8), a CASI/SASI sensor carried by the Harbin Y-12 aircraft was used in a visible near Infrared hyperspectral airborne remote sensing experiment, which is located in the observation experimental area (30×30 km). The relative flight altitude is 3500 meters（an elevation of 3500 meters）, The wavelength of CASI and SASI is 380-1050 nm and 950-2450 nm, respectively. The spatial resolution of CASI and SASI is 1 m and 2.4 m, respectively. Through the ground sample points and atmospheric data, the data are recorded in reflectance processed by geometric correction and atmospheric correction based on 6S model.

The albedo product was obtained based on the visible and near-infrared hyperspectral radiometer (29 June, 2012) which covered the artificial oasis eco-hydrology experimental area (5.5 km*5.5 km)with a 5 m spatial resolution.

This dataset contains the flux measurements from site No.6 eddy covariance system (EC) in the flux observation matrix from 28 May to 21 September, 2012. The site (100.35970° E, 38.87116° N) was located in a cropland (maize surface) in Yingke irrigation district, which is near Zhangye, Gansu Province. The elevation is 1562.97 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&Li7500A) 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.

This data is the simulation data of land use changes using Dyna-CLUE model under multiple scenarios in Heihe River Basin. The time period is 1986-2030, 1986 is the actual reference data, and 1987-2030 is the simulation data. Scenarios include historical trend scenarios, ecological protection scenarios, strict ecological protection scenarios, economic development scenarios and rapid economic development scenarios. Dyna-CLUE model is used to simulate different scenarios. Data format is Arc ASCII format.

The No. 8 hydrological section is located at Gaotai Heihe River Bridge (N39° 23′22.93 ″, E 99° 49′37.29″, 1347 m a.s.l.) in the midstream of the Heihe River Basin, Zhangye city, Gansu Province. The dataset contains observations recorded by the No.8 hydrological section from 17 June, 2012, to 31 December, 2013. The width of this section is 210 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 includes two reference images. The first one is before the calibration and validation experiment and the second one is during the calibration and validation experiment. The first image was shoot and mosaicked by CCD camera on 8 November, 2011. It was mainly used to design the experiment in the middle stream. The spatial resolution is 0.3 m for raw image and 0.5 m for the mosaicked image. The second reference image is CASI image shoot on 29 June, 2012. This image is mainly used to crop structure mapping in the experiment area. The spatial resolution is 0.3 m for raw image and 0.5 m for the mosaicked image. Data format：GeoTIFF Projection：The 2000 national geodetic coordinate system

On 19 August 2012, a Leica ALS70 airborne laser scanner boarded on the Y-12 aircraft was used to obtain the Lidar point cloud data. Leica ALS70 airborne laser scanner has unlimited numbers of returns intensities measurements including the first, second, third return intensities. The wavelength of laser light is 1064 nm. The absolute flight altitude is 2900 m with the point cloud density 1 point per square meter. Aerial LiDAR-DEM was obtained through parameter calibration, automatic classification of point cloud density and manual editing.

The dataset of ground truth measurement synchronizing with ALOS PALSAR was obtained in the Linze grassland foci experimental area on Jun. 10, 2008. The data were in FBS mode and HH/HV polarization combinations, and the overpass time was approximately at 23:39 BJT. Observations were carried out in plots A, B, C, D and E, which were divided into 6×6 subsites, with each one spanning a 120×120 m2 plot. Soil gravimetric moisture, volumetric moisture, and soil bulk density after drying by the cutting ring and the mean soil temperature from 0-5cm by the probe thermometer were measured in A, B and C; the soil temperature, soil moisture, the loss tangent, soil conductivity, the real part and the imaginary part of soil complex permittivity by the POGO soil sensor, and the mean soil temperature from 0-5cm by the probe thermometer in D and E. Data were archived in Excel file. See WATER: Dataset of setting of the sampling plots and stripes in the foci experimental area of Linze station for more information.