Global Gridded Crop Production Dataset at 10 km Resolution from 2010 to 2020.

The global gridded crop production dataset at 10 km resolution from 2010 to 2020 (GGCP10) for maize, wheat, rice, and soybean was developed to address limitations of existing datasets characterized by coarse resolution and discontinuous time spans. GGCP10 was generated using a series of adaptively trained data-driven crop production spatial estimation models integrating multiple data sources, including statistical data, gridded production data, agroclimatic indicator data, agronomic indicator data, global land surface satellite products, and ground data. These models were trained based on agroecological zones to accurately estimate crop production in different agricultural regions.

Overlooked uneven progress across sustainable development goals at the global scale: Challenges and opportunities.

Differences in progress across sustainable development goals (SDGs) are widespread globally; meanwhile, the rising call for prioritizing specific SDGs may exacerbate such gaps. Nevertheless, how these progress differences would influence global sustainable development has been long neglected. Here, we present the first quantitative assessment of SDGs' progress differences globally by adopting the SDGs progress evenness index.

Distinguishing natural and anthropogenic contributions to biological soil crust distribution in China's drylands.

Desertification caused by natural factors and human activities seriously threatens dryland biological communities. However, the impact of these factors on non-vascular plants in drylands has not been fully documented. This study proposed a framework to distinguish the natural and anthropogenic contributions to the distribution of the biological soil crust (BSC) coverage.

Correction of UAV LiDAR-derived grassland canopy height based on scan angle.

Grassland canopy height is a crucial trait for indicating functional diversity or monitoring species diversity. Compared with traditional field sampling, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) provides new technology for mapping the regional grassland canopy height in a time-saving and cost-effective way. However, the grassland canopy height based on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) LiDAR is usually underestimated with height information loss due to the complex structure of grassland and the relatively small size of individual plants.

Challenges and opportunities in remote sensing-based crop monitoring: a review.

Building a more resilient food system for sustainable development and reducing uncertainty in global food markets both require concurrent and near-real-time and reliable crop information for decision making. Satellite-driven crop monitoring has become a main method to derive crop information at local, regional, and global scales by revealing the spatial and temporal dimensions of crop growth status and production. However, there is a lack of quantitative, objective, and robust methods to ensure the reliability of crop information, which reduces the applicability of crop monitoring and leads to uncertain and undesirable consequences.

Analysis of coniferous tree growth gradients in relation to regional pollution and climate change in the Miyun Reservoir Basin, China.

Forests play a crucial role in regulating regional climate and mitigating local air pollution, but little is known about their responding to such changes. This study aimed to examine the potential responses of Pinus tabuliformis, the major coniferous tree species in the Miyun Reservoir Basin (MRB), along an air pollution gradient in Beijing. Tree rings were collected along a transect, and ring width (basal area increment, BAI) and chemical characteristics were determined and related to long-term climatic and environmental records.

A framework for separating natural and anthropogenic contributions to evapotranspiration of human-managed land covers in watersheds based on machine learning.

Actual EvapoTranspiration (ET) represents the water consumption in watersheds; distinguishing between natural and anthropogenic contributions to ET is essential for water conservation and ecological sustainability. This study proposed a framework to separate the contribution of natural and anthropogenic factors to ET of human-managed land cover types using the Random Forest Regressor (RFR). The steps include: (1) classify land cover into natural and human-managed land covers and then divide ET, meteorological, topographical, and geographical data into two parts corresponding to natural and human-managed land cover types; (2) construct a natural ET (ET) prediction model using natural land cover types of ET, and the corresponding meteorological, topographical and geographical factors; (3) the constructed ET prediction model is used to predict the ET of human-managed land cover types using the corresponding meteorological, topographical and geographical data as inputs, and (4) derive the anthropogenic ET (ET) by subtracting the natural ET from the total ET (ET) for human-managed land cover types.

Assessment of environmentally sensitive areas to desertification in the Blue Nile Basin driven by the MEDALUS-GEE framework.

Assessing environmentally sensitive areas (ESA) to desertification and understanding their primary drivers are necessary for applying targeted management practices to combat land degradation at the basin scale. We have developed the MEditerranean Desertification And Land Use framework in the Google Earth Engine cloud platform (MEDALUS-GEE) to map and assess the ESA index at 300 m grids in the Blue Nile Basin (BNB). The ESA index was derived from elaborating 19 key indicators representing soil, climate, vegetation, and management through the geometric mean of their sensitivity scores.

Method for monitoring environmental flows with high spatial and temporal resolution satellite data.

Monitoring environmental flows is crucial to maintaining the function and stability of river and lake ecosystems. However, current methods for monitoring environmental flows are expensive and ground based, and the accuracy of the results needs to be verified to evaluate the environmental flows. This evaluation is hampered by the problem of data shortages, such as hydrological and ecological data.

A canopy conductance model with temporal physiological and environmental factors.

Canopy conductance, one of the key variables in simulating evapotranspiration, is strongly influenced by the physiological status of a plant and environmental factors, including photosynthetically active radiation, vapor pressure deficit, air temperature, soil moisture and so on. However, the restrictive functions used to represent these factors rarely consider the dynamics of physiological and environmental factors. This study proposed an improved canopy conductance model by regarding radiation and vapor pressure deficit as the two main influencing factors, quantifying the temporal variation in stomatal responses to radiation that notably adjust stomatal behavior, parameterizing maximum stomatal conductance with plant type-specific functions and proposing a new restrictive function for the VPD.

Soil erosion assessment in the Blue Nile Basin driven by a novel RUSLE-GEE framework.

Assessment of soil loss and understanding its major drivers are essential to implement targeted management interventions. We have proposed and developed a Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation framework fully implemented in the Google Earth Engine cloud platform (RUSLE-GEE) for high spatial resolution (90 m) soil erosion assessment. Using RUSLE-GEE, we analyzed the soil loss rate for different erosion levels, land cover types, and slopes in the Blue Nile Basin.

Surface mining caused multiple ecosystem service losses in China.

China's surface mining greatly supported the rapid socio-economic development; however, there was a scarcity in the systematic understanding of national changes in surface mining changes and associated ecosystem services (ESs) losses, which inevitably affected human well-being and limited sustainable ecosystem management and policy optimization. In this study, we quantified the areal changes in surface mining based on the ChinaCover database and performed further analysis of ES loss from expanded surface mining using multidimensional geospatial data from 1990 to 2015, including MODIS products, meteorological records, and statistical datasets. Our observations reveal that China's surface mining was estimated to be 4746 km in 2015 and that Inner Mongolia had the largest surface mining area (28%).

Identification of Crop Type in Crowdsourced Road View Photos with Deep Convolutional Neural Network.

In situ ground truth data are an important requirement for producing accurate cropland type map, and this is precisely what is lacking at vast scales. Although volunteered geographic information (VGI) has been proven as a possible solution for in situ data acquisition, processing and extracting valuable information from millions of pictures remains challenging. This paper targets the detection of specific crop types from crowdsourced road view photos.

Tree water-use efficiency and growth dynamics in response to climatic and environmental changes in a temperate forest in Beijing, China.

Understanding the responses of local forests to the gradually rising atmospheric CO concentrations (c) and changing environment is critical for appropriate management activities. This work used tree ring width measures (i.e.

Hidden Loss of Wetlands in China.

To counter their widespread loss, global aspirations are for no net loss of remaining wetlands [1]. We examine whether this goal alone is sufficient for managing China's wetlands, for they constitute 10% of the world's total. Analyzing wetland changes between 2000 and 2015 using 30-m-resolution satellite images, we show that China's wetlands expanded by 27,614 km but lost 26,066 km-a net increase of 1,548 km (or 0.

Variation in actual evapotranspiration following changes in climate and vegetation cover during an ecological restoration period (2000-2015) in the Loess Plateau, China.

The spatial distribution of water resources largely influences Earth ecosystems and human civilization. Being a major component of the global water cycle, evapotranspiration (ET) serves as an indicator of the availability of water resources. Understanding the actual ET (ET) variation mechanism at different spatial and temporal scales can improve management of water use within the sustainable development limits.

A Refined Crop Drought Monitoring Method Based on the Chinese GF-1 Wide Field View Data.

In this study, modified perpendicular drought index (MPDI) models based on the red-near infrared spectral space are established for the first time through the analysis of the spectral characteristics of GF-1 wide field view (WFV) data, with a high spatial resolution of 16 m and the highest frequency as high as once every 4 days. GF-1 data was from the Chinese-made, new-generation high-resolution GF-1 remote sensing satellites. Soil-type spatial data are introduced for simulating soil lines in different soil types for reducing errors of using same soil line.

Effects of national ecological restoration projects on carbon sequestration in China from 2001 to 2010.

The long-term stressful utilization of forests and grasslands has led to ecosystem degradation and C loss. Since the late 1970s China has launched six key national ecological restoration projects to protect its environment and restore degraded ecosystems. Here, we conducted a large-scale field investigation and a literature survey of biomass and soil C in China's forest, shrubland, and grassland ecosystems across the regions where the six projects were implemented (∼16% of the country's land area).

Carbon pools in China's terrestrial ecosystems: New estimates based on an intensive field survey.

China's terrestrial ecosystems have functioned as important carbon sinks. However, previous estimates of carbon budgets have included large uncertainties owing to the limitations of sample size, multiple data sources, and inconsistent methodologies. In this study, we conducted an intensive field campaign involving 14,371 field plots to investigate all sectors of carbon stocks in China's forests, shrublands, grasslands, and croplands to better estimate the regional and national carbon pools and to explore the biogeographical patterns and potential drivers of these pools.

Conversions between natural wetlands and farmland in China: A multiscale geospatial analysis.

Agricultural activity is widely recognized as a leading driver of natural wetland loss in many parts of the world. However, little is known about the spatiotemporal patterns of conversion between natural wetlands and farmland in China. This information deficiency has limited decision-making for the sustainable management of natural wetland ecosystems.

Representation of critical natural capital in China.

Traditional means of assessing representativeness of conservation value in protected areas depend on measures of structural biodiversity. The effectiveness of priority conservation areas at representing critical natural capital (CNC) (i.e.