Articles | Volume 17, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2007-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2007-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Data description paper
| 
12 May 2025
Data description paper |
| 12 May 2025
| 12 May 2025
LegacyVegetation: Northern Hemisphere reconstruction of past plant cover and total tree cover from pollen archives of the last 14 kyr
Laura Schild
Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Research Unit Potsdam, Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), Potsdam, Germany
Institute of Environmental Sciences and Geography, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
Peter Ewald
Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Research Unit Potsdam, Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), Potsdam, Germany
Institute of Environmental Sciences and Geography, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
Chenzhi Li
Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Research Unit Potsdam, Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), Potsdam, Germany
Institute of Environmental Sciences and Geography, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
Raphaël Hébert
Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Research Unit Potsdam, Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), Potsdam, Germany
Thomas Laepple
Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Research Unit Potsdam, Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), Potsdam, Germany
MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences and Faculty of Geosciences, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
Ulrike Herzschuh
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Research Unit Potsdam, Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), Potsdam, Germany
Institute of Environmental Sciences and Geography, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
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Furong Li, Marie-José Gaillard, Xianyong Cao, Ulrike Herzschuh, Shinya Sugita, Jian Ni, Yan Zhao, Chengbang An, Xiaozhong Huang, Yu Li, Hongyan Liu, Aizhi Sun, and Yifeng Yao
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Timon Miesner, Ulrike Herzschuh, Luidmila A. Pestryakova, Mareike Wieczorek, Evgenii S. Zakharov, Alexei I. Kolmogorov, Paraskovya V. Davydova, and Stefan Kruse
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 5695–5716, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-5695-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-5695-2022, 2022
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We present data which were collected on expeditions to the northeast of the Russian Federation. One table describes the 226 locations we visited during those expeditions, and the other describes 40 289 trees which we recorded at these locations. We found out that important information on the forest cannot be predicted precisely from satellites. Thus, for anyone interested in distant forests, it is important to go to there and take measurements or use data (as presented here).
Femke van Geffen, Birgit Heim, Frederic Brieger, Rongwei Geng, Iuliia A. Shevtsova, Luise Schulte, Simone M. Stuenzi, Nadine Bernhardt, Elena I. Troeva, Luidmila A. Pestryakova, Evgenii S. Zakharov, Bringfried Pflug, Ulrike Herzschuh, and Stefan Kruse
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 4967–4994, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4967-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4967-2022, 2022
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Antoine Grisart, Mathieu Casado, Vasileios Gkinis, Bo Vinther, Philippe Naveau, Mathieu Vrac, Thomas Laepple, Bénédicte Minster, Frederic Prié, Barbara Stenni, Elise Fourré, Hans Christian Steen-Larsen, Jean Jouzel, Martin Werner, Katy Pol, Valérie Masson-Delmotte, Maria Hoerhold, Trevor Popp, and Amaelle Landais
Clim. Past, 18, 2289–2301, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2289-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2289-2022, 2022
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Ulrike Herzschuh, Chenzhi Li, Thomas Böhmer, Alexander K. Postl, Birgit Heim, Andrei A. Andreev, Xianyong Cao, Mareike Wieczorek, and Jian Ni
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 3213–3227, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-3213-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-3213-2022, 2022
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Ramesh Glückler, Rongwei Geng, Lennart Grimm, Izabella Baisheva, Ulrike Herzschuh, Kathleen R. Stoof-Leichsenring, Stefan Kruse, Andrei Andreev, Luidmila Pestryakova, and Elisabeth Dietze
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-395, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-395, 2022
Preprint archived
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Despite rapidly intensifying wildfire seasons in Siberian boreal forests, little is known about long-term relationships between changes in vegetation and shifts in wildfire activity. Using lake sediment proxies, we reconstruct such environmental changes over the past 10,800 years in Central Yakutia. We find that a more open forest may facilitate increased amounts of vegetation burning. The present-day dense larch forest might yet be mediating the current climate-driven wildfire intensification.
Chenzhi Li, Alexander K. Postl, Thomas Böhmer, Xianyong Cao, Andrew M. Dolman, and Ulrike Herzschuh
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 1331–1343, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1331-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1331-2022, 2022
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Stefan Kruse, Simone M. Stuenzi, Julia Boike, Moritz Langer, Josias Gloy, and Ulrike Herzschuh
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 2395–2422, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-2395-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-2395-2022, 2022
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We coupled established models for boreal forest (LAVESI) and permafrost dynamics (CryoGrid) in Siberia to investigate interactions of the diverse vegetation layer with permafrost soils. Our tests showed improved active layer depth estimations and newly included species growth according to their species-specific limits. We conclude that the new model system can be applied to simulate boreal forest dynamics and transitions under global warming and disturbances, expanding our knowledge.
Roman Procyk, Shaun Lovejoy, and Raphael Hébert
Earth Syst. Dynam., 13, 81–107, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-81-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-81-2022, 2022
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This paper presents a new class of energy balance model that accounts for the long memory within the Earth's energy storage. The model is calibrated on instrumental temperature records and the historical energy budget of the Earth using an error model predicted by the model itself. Our equilibrium climate sensitivity and future temperature projection estimates are consistent with those estimated by complex climate models.
Anne Dallmeyer, Martin Claussen, Stephan J. Lorenz, Michael Sigl, Matthew Toohey, and Ulrike Herzschuh
Clim. Past, 17, 2481–2513, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2481-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2481-2021, 2021
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Using the comprehensive Earth system model, MPI-ESM1.2, we explore the global Holocene vegetation changes and interpret them in terms of the Holocene climate change. The model results reveal that most of the Holocene vegetation transitions seen outside the high northern latitudes can be attributed to modifications in the intensity of the global summer monsoons.
Alexandra M. Zuhr, Thomas Münch, Hans Christian Steen-Larsen, Maria Hörhold, and Thomas Laepple
The Cryosphere, 15, 4873–4900, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4873-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4873-2021, 2021
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Firn and ice cores are used to infer past temperatures. However, the imprint of the climatic signal in stable water isotopes is influenced by depositional modifications. We present and use a photogrammetry structure-from-motion approach and find variability in the amount, the timing, and the location of snowfall. Depositional modifications of the surface are observed, leading to mixing of snow from different snowfall events and spatial locations and thus creating noise in the proxy record.
Stuart A. Vyse, Ulrike Herzschuh, Gregor Pfalz, Lyudmila A. Pestryakova, Bernhard Diekmann, Norbert Nowaczyk, and Boris K. Biskaborn
Biogeosciences, 18, 4791–4816, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4791-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4791-2021, 2021
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Lakes act as important stores of organic carbon and inorganic sediment material. This study provides a first investigation into carbon and sediment accumulation and storage within an Arctic glacial lake from Far East Russia. It shows that major shifts are related to palaeoclimate variation that affects the development of the lake and its surrounding catchment. Spatial differences to other lake systems from other regions may reflect variability in processes controlled by latitude and altitude.
Thomas Münch, Martin Werner, and Thomas Laepple
Clim. Past, 17, 1587–1605, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-1587-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-1587-2021, 2021
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We analyse Holocene climate model simulation data to find the locations of Antarctic ice cores which are best suited to reconstruct local- to regional-scale temperatures. We find that the spatial decorrelation scales of the temperature variations and of the noise from precipitation intermittency set an effective sampling length scale. Following this, a single core should be located at the
target site for the temperature reconstruction, and a second one optimally lies more than 500 km away.
Raphaël Hébert, Kira Rehfeld, and Thomas Laepple
Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 28, 311–328, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-28-311-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-28-311-2021, 2021
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Paleoclimate proxy data are essential for broadening our understanding of climate variability. There remain, however, challenges for traditional methods of variability analysis to be applied to such data, which are usually irregular. We perform a comparative analysis of different methods of scaling analysis, which provide variability estimates as a function of timescales, applied to irregular paleoclimate proxy data.
Ramesh Glückler, Ulrike Herzschuh, Stefan Kruse, Andrei Andreev, Stuart Andrew Vyse, Bettina Winkler, Boris K. Biskaborn, Luidmila Pestryakova, and Elisabeth Dietze
Biogeosciences, 18, 4185–4209, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4185-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-4185-2021, 2021
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Data about past fire activity are very sparse in Siberia. This study presents a first high-resolution record of charcoal particles from lake sediments in boreal eastern Siberia. It indicates that current levels of charcoal accumulation are not unprecedented. While a recent increase in reconstructed fire frequency coincides with rising temperatures and increasing human activity, vegetation composition does not seem to be a major driver behind changes in the fire regime in the past two millennia.
Lydia Stolpmann, Caroline Coch, Anne Morgenstern, Julia Boike, Michael Fritz, Ulrike Herzschuh, Kathleen Stoof-Leichsenring, Yury Dvornikov, Birgit Heim, Josefine Lenz, Amy Larsen, Katey Walter Anthony, Benjamin Jones, Karen Frey, and Guido Grosse
Biogeosciences, 18, 3917–3936, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3917-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3917-2021, 2021
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Our new database summarizes DOC concentrations of 2167 water samples from 1833 lakes in permafrost regions across the Arctic to provide insights into linkages between DOC and environment. We found increasing lake DOC concentration with decreasing permafrost extent and higher DOC concentrations in boreal permafrost sites compared to tundra sites. Our study shows that DOC concentration depends on the environmental properties of a lake, especially permafrost extent, ecoregion, and vegetation.
Iuliia Shevtsova, Ulrike Herzschuh, Birgit Heim, Luise Schulte, Simone Stünzi, Luidmila A. Pestryakova, Evgeniy S. Zakharov, and Stefan Kruse
Biogeosciences, 18, 3343–3366, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3343-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3343-2021, 2021
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In the light of climate changes in subarctic regions, notable general increase in above-ground biomass for the past 15 years (2000 to 2017) was estimated along a tundra–taiga gradient of central Chukotka (Russian Far East). The greatest increase occurred in the northern taiga in the areas of larch closed-canopy forest expansion with Cajander larch as a main contributor. For the estimations, we used field data (taxa-separated plant biomass, 2018) and upscaled it based on Landsat satellite data.
Andrew M. Dolman, Torben Kunz, Jeroen Groeneveld, and Thomas Laepple
Clim. Past, 17, 825–841, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-825-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-825-2021, 2021
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Uncertainties in climate proxy records are temporally autocorrelated. By deriving expressions for the power spectra of errors in proxy records, we can estimate appropriate uncertainties for any timescale, for example, for temporally smoothed records or for time slices. Here we outline and demonstrate this approach for climate proxies recovered from marine sediment cores.
Simone Maria Stuenzi, Julia Boike, William Cable, Ulrike Herzschuh, Stefan Kruse, Luidmila A. Pestryakova, Thomas Schneider von Deimling, Sebastian Westermann, Evgenii S. Zakharov, and Moritz Langer
Biogeosciences, 18, 343–365, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-343-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-343-2021, 2021
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Boreal forests in eastern Siberia are an essential component of global climate patterns. We use a physically based model and field measurements to study the interactions between forests, permanently frozen ground and the atmosphere. We find that forests exert a strong control on the thermal state of permafrost through changing snow cover dynamics and altering the surface energy balance, through absorbing most of the incoming solar radiation and suppressing below-canopy turbulent fluxes.
Mareike Wieczorek and Ulrike Herzschuh
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 3515–3528, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-3515-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-3515-2020, 2020
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Relative pollen productivity (RPP) estimates are used to estimate vegetation cover from pollen records. This study provides (i) a compilation of northern hemispheric RPP studies, allowing researchers to identify suitable sets for their study region and to identify data gaps for future research, and (ii) taxonomically harmonized, unified RPP sets for China, Europe, North America, and the whole Northern Hemisphere, generated from the available studies.
Basil A. S. Davis, Manuel Chevalier, Philipp Sommer, Vachel A. Carter, Walter Finsinger, Achille Mauri, Leanne N. Phelps, Marco Zanon, Roman Abegglen, Christine M. Åkesson, Francisca Alba-Sánchez, R. Scott Anderson, Tatiana G. Antipina, Juliana R. Atanassova, Ruth Beer, Nina I. Belyanina, Tatiana A. Blyakharchuk, Olga K. Borisova, Elissaveta Bozilova, Galina Bukreeva, M. Jane Bunting, Eleonora Clò, Daniele Colombaroli, Nathalie Combourieu-Nebout, Stéphanie Desprat, Federico Di Rita, Morteza Djamali, Kevin J. Edwards, Patricia L. Fall, Angelica Feurdean, William Fletcher, Assunta Florenzano, Giulia Furlanetto, Emna Gaceur, Arsenii T. Galimov, Mariusz Gałka, Iria García-Moreiras, Thomas Giesecke, Roxana Grindean, Maria A. Guido, Irina G. Gvozdeva, Ulrike Herzschuh, Kari L. Hjelle, Sergey Ivanov, Susanne Jahns, Vlasta Jankovska, Gonzalo Jiménez-Moreno, Monika Karpińska-Kołaczek, Ikuko Kitaba, Piotr Kołaczek, Elena G. Lapteva, Małgorzata Latałowa, Vincent Lebreton, Suzanne Leroy, Michelle Leydet, Darya A. Lopatina, José Antonio López-Sáez, André F. Lotter, Donatella Magri, Elena Marinova, Isabelle Matthias, Anastasia Mavridou, Anna Maria Mercuri, Jose Manuel Mesa-Fernández, Yuri A. Mikishin, Krystyna Milecka, Carlo Montanari, César Morales-Molino, Almut Mrotzek, Castor Muñoz Sobrino, Olga D. Naidina, Takeshi Nakagawa, Anne Birgitte Nielsen, Elena Y. Novenko, Sampson Panajiotidis, Nata K. Panova, Maria Papadopoulou, Heather S. Pardoe, Anna Pędziszewska, Tatiana I. Petrenko, María J. Ramos-Román, Cesare Ravazzi, Manfred Rösch, Natalia Ryabogina, Silvia Sabariego Ruiz, J. Sakari Salonen, Tatyana V. Sapelko, James E. Schofield, Heikki Seppä, Lyudmila Shumilovskikh, Normunds Stivrins, Philipp Stojakowits, Helena Svobodova Svitavska, Joanna Święta-Musznicka, Ioan Tantau, Willy Tinner, Kazimierz Tobolski, Spassimir Tonkov, Margarita Tsakiridou, Verushka Valsecchi, Oksana G. Zanina, and Marcelina Zimny
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 2423–2445, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2423-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2423-2020, 2020
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The Eurasian Modern Pollen Database (EMPD) contains pollen counts and associated metadata for 8134 modern pollen samples from across the Eurasian region. The EMPD is part of, and complementary to, the European Pollen Database (EPD) which contains data on fossil pollen found in Late Quaternary sedimentary archives. The purpose of the EMPD is to provide calibration datasets and other data to support palaeoecological research on past climates and vegetation cover over the Quaternary period.
Heike H. Zimmermann, Kathleen R. Stoof-Leichsenring, Stefan Kruse, Juliane Müller, Ruediger Stein, Ralf Tiedemann, and Ulrike Herzschuh
Ocean Sci., 16, 1017–1032, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-16-1017-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-16-1017-2020, 2020
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This study targets high-resolution, diatom-specific sedimentary ancient DNA using a DNA metabarcoding approach. Diatom DNA has been preserved with substantial taxonomic richness in the eastern Fram Strait over the past 30 000 years with taxonomic composition being dominated by cold-water and sea-ice-associated diatoms. Taxonomic reorganisations took place after the Last Glacial Maximum and after the Younger Dryas. Peak proportions of pennate diatoms might indicate past sea-ice presence.
Mathieu Casado, Thomas Münch, and Thomas Laepple
Clim. Past, 16, 1581–1598, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1581-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1581-2020, 2020
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The isotopic composition in ice cores from Antarctica is usually interpreted as a temperature proxy. Using a forward model, we show how different the signal in ice cores and the actual climatic signal are. Precipitation intermittency and diffusion do indeed affect the archived signal, leading to the reshuffling of the signal which limits the ability to reconstruct high-resolution climatic variations with ice cores.
Torben Kunz, Andrew M. Dolman, and Thomas Laepple
Clim. Past, 16, 1469–1492, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1469-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-1469-2020, 2020
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This paper introduces a method to estimate the uncertainty of climate reconstructions from single sediment proxy records. The method can compute uncertainties as a function of averaging timescale, thereby accounting for the fact that some components of the uncertainty are autocorrelated in time. This is achieved by treating the problem in the spectral domain. Fully analytic expressions are derived. A companion paper (Part 2) complements this with application-oriented examples of the method.
Kira Rehfeld, Raphaël Hébert, Juan M. Lora, Marcus Lofverstrom, and Chris M. Brierley
Earth Syst. Dynam., 11, 447–468, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-11-447-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-11-447-2020, 2020
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Under continued anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, it is likely that global mean surface temperature will continue to increase. Little is known about changes in climate variability. We analyze surface climate variability and compare it to mean change in colder- and warmer-than-present climate model simulations. In most locations, but not on subtropical land, simulated temperature variability up to decadal timescales decreases with mean temperature, and precipitation variability increases.
Elisabeth Dietze, Kai Mangelsdorf, Andrei Andreev, Cornelia Karger, Laura T. Schreuder, Ellen C. Hopmans, Oliver Rach, Dirk Sachse, Volker Wennrich, and Ulrike Herzschuh
Clim. Past, 16, 799–818, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-799-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-799-2020, 2020
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Long-term climate change impacts on fire, vegetation and permafrost in the Arctic are uncertain. Here, we show the high potential of organic compounds from low-temperature biomass burning to serve as proxies for surface fires in lake deposits. During warm periods of the last 430 000 years, surface fires are closely linked to the larch taiga forest with its moss–lichen ground vegetation that isolates the permafrost. They have reduced in warm–wet, spruce–dominated and cool–dry steppe environments.
Xianyong Cao, Fang Tian, Andrei Andreev, Patricia M. Anderson, Anatoly V. Lozhkin, Elena Bezrukova, Jian Ni, Natalia Rudaya, Astrid Stobbe, Mareike Wieczorek, and Ulrike Herzschuh
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 119–135, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-119-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-119-2020, 2020
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Pollen percentages in spectra cannot be utilized to indicate past plant abundance directly because of the different pollen productivities among plants. In this paper, we applied relative pollen productivity estimates (PPEs) to calibrate plant abundances during the last 40 kyr using pollen counts from 203 pollen spectra in northern Asia. Results indicate the vegetation are generally stable during the Holocene and that climate change is the primary factor.
Xianyong Cao, Fang Tian, Furong Li, Marie-José Gaillard, Natalia Rudaya, Qinghai Xu, and Ulrike Herzschuh
Clim. Past, 15, 1503–1536, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1503-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1503-2019, 2019
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The high-quality pollen records (collected from lakes and peat bogs) of the last 40 ka cal BP form north Asia are homogenized and the plant abundance signals are calibrated by the modern relative pollen productivity estimates. Calibrated plant abundances for each site are generally consistent with in situ modern vegetation, and vegetation changes within the regions are characterized by minor changes in the abundance of major taxa rather than by invasions of new taxa during the last 40 ka cal BP.
Maria Reschke, Kira Rehfeld, and Thomas Laepple
Clim. Past, 15, 521–537, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-521-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-521-2019, 2019
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We empirically estimate signal-to-noise ratios of temperature proxy records used in global compilations of the middle to late Holocene by comparing the spatial correlation structure of proxy records and climate model simulations accounting for noise and time uncertainty. We find that low signal contents of the proxy records or, alternatively, more localised climate variations recorded by proxies than suggested by current model simulations suggest caution when interpreting multi-proxy datasets.
Stefan Kruse, Alexander Gerdes, Nadja J. Kath, Laura S. Epp, Kathleen R. Stoof-Leichsenring, Luidmila A. Pestryakova, and Ulrike Herzschuh
Biogeosciences, 16, 1211–1224, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-1211-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-1211-2019, 2019
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How fast might the arctic treeline in northern central Siberia migrate northwards under current global warming? To answer this, we newly parameterized dispersal processes in the individual-based and spatially explicit model LAVESI-WIND based on parentage analysis. Simulation results show that northernmost open forest stands are migrating at an unexpectedly slow rate into tundra. We conclude that the treeline currently lags behind the strong warming and will remain slow in the upcoming decades.
Thomas Münch and Thomas Laepple
Clim. Past, 14, 2053–2070, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-2053-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-2053-2018, 2018
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Proxy data on climate variations contain noise from many sources and, for reliable estimates, we need to determine those temporal scales at which the climate signal in the proxy record dominates the noise. We developed a method to derive timescale-dependent estimates of temperature proxy signal-to-noise ratios, which we apply and discuss in the context of Antarctic ice-core records but which in general are applicable to a large set of palaeoclimate records.
Andrew M. Dolman and Thomas Laepple
Clim. Past, 14, 1851–1868, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-1851-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-14-1851-2018, 2018
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Climate proxies from marine sediments provide an important record of past temperatures, but contain noise from many sources. These include mixing by burrowing organisms, seasonal and habitat biases, measurement error, and small sample size effects. We have created a forward model that simulates the creation of proxy records and provides it as a user-friendly R package. It allows multiple sources of uncertainty to be considered together when interpreting proxy climate records.
Stefan Kruse, Alexander Gerdes, Nadja J. Kath, and Ulrike Herzschuh
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 4451–4467, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-4451-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-4451-2018, 2018
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It is of major interest to estimate feedbacks of arctic ecosystems to global warming in the upcoming decades. However, the speed of this response is driven by the potential of species to migrate and the timing and spatial scale for this is rather uncertain. To close this knowledge gap, we updated a very detailed vegetation model by including seed and pollen dispersal driven by wind speed and direction. The new model can substantially help in unveiling the important drivers of migration dynamics.
Mathieu Casado, Amaelle Landais, Ghislain Picard, Thomas Münch, Thomas Laepple, Barbara Stenni, Giuliano Dreossi, Alexey Ekaykin, Laurent Arnaud, Christophe Genthon, Alexandra Touzeau, Valerie Masson-Delmotte, and Jean Jouzel
The Cryosphere, 12, 1745–1766, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1745-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1745-2018, 2018
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Ice core isotopic records rely on the knowledge of the processes involved in the archival processes of the snow. In the East Antarctic Plateau, post-deposition processes strongly affect the signal found in the surface and buried snow compared to the initial climatic signal. We evaluate the different contributions to the surface snow isotopic composition between the precipitation and the exchanges with the atmosphere and the variability of the isotopic signal found in profiles from snow pits.
Thomas Laepple, Thomas Münch, Mathieu Casado, Maria Hoerhold, Amaelle Landais, and Sepp Kipfstuhl
The Cryosphere, 12, 169–187, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-169-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-169-2018, 2018
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We explain why snow pits across different sites in East Antarctica show visually similar isotopic variations. We argue that the similarity and the apparent cycles of around 20 cm in the δD and δ18O variations are the result of a seasonal cycle in isotopes, noise, for example from precipitation intermittency, and diffusion. The near constancy of the diffusion length across many ice-coring sites explains why the structure and cycle length is largely independent of the accumulation conditions.
Thomas Münch, Sepp Kipfstuhl, Johannes Freitag, Hanno Meyer, and Thomas Laepple
The Cryosphere, 11, 2175–2188, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2175-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2175-2017, 2017
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The importance of post-depositional changes for the temperature interpretation of water isotopes is poorly constrained by observations. Here, for the first time, temporal isotope changes in the open-porous firn are directly analysed using a large array of shallow isotope profiles. By this, we can reject the possibility of post-depositional change beyond diffusion and densification as the cause of the discrepancy between isotope and local temperature variations at Kohnen Station, East Antarctica.
Romy Zibulski, Felix Wesener, Heinz Wilkes, Birgit Plessen, Luidmila A. Pestryakova, and Ulrike Herzschuh
Biogeosciences, 14, 1617–1630, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-1617-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-1617-2017, 2017
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We investigated variations of isotopic and biochemical parameters in arctic mosses. We were able to differentiate habitat groups of mosses (classified by moisture gradient) by elemental content and isotopic ratios (δ13C, δ15N). Some species showed intraspecific variability in their isotopic composition along the moisture gradient. Furthermore n-alkanes showed interesting patterns for species identification.
Anne Dallmeyer, Martin Claussen, Jian Ni, Xianyong Cao, Yongbo Wang, Nils Fischer, Madlene Pfeiffer, Liya Jin, Vyacheslav Khon, Sebastian Wagner, Kerstin Haberkorn, and Ulrike Herzschuh
Clim. Past, 13, 107–134, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-107-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-107-2017, 2017
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The vegetation distribution in eastern Asia is supposed to be very sensitive to climate change. Since proxy records are scarce, hitherto a mechanistic understanding of the past spatio-temporal climate–vegetation relationship is lacking. To assess the Holocene vegetation change, we forced the diagnostic biome model BIOME4 with climate anomalies of different transient climate simulations.
Heike Hildegard Zimmermann, Elena Raschke, Laura Saskia Epp, Kathleen Rosmarie Stoof-Leichsenring, Georg Schwamborn, Lutz Schirrmeister, Pier Paul Overduin, and Ulrike Herzschuh
Biogeosciences, 14, 575–596, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-575-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-575-2017, 2017
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Organic matter stored in permafrost will start decomposing due to climate warming. To better understand its composition in ice-rich Yedoma, we analyzed ancient sedimentary DNA, pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs throughout an 18.9 m long permafrost core. The combination of both proxies allow an interpretation both of regional floristic changes and of the local environmental conditions at the time of deposition.
Kira Rehfeld, Mathias Trachsel, Richard J. Telford, and Thomas Laepple
Clim. Past, 12, 2255–2270, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-2255-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-2255-2016, 2016
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Indirect evidence on past climate comes from the former composition of ecological communities such as plants, preserved as pollen grains in sediments of lakes. Transfer functions convert relative counts of species to a climatologically meaningful scale (e.g. annual mean temperature in degrees C). We show that the fundamental assumptions in the algorithms impact the reconstruction results in he idealized model world, in particular if the reconstructed variables were not ecologically relevant.
Mathieu Casado, Amaelle Landais, Ghislain Picard, Thomas Münch, Thomas Laepple, Barbara Stenni, Giuliano Dreossi, Alexey Ekaykin, Laurent Arnaud, Christophe Genthon, Alexandra Touzeau, Valérie Masson-Delmotte, and Jean Jouzel
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2016-263, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2016-263, 2016
Revised manuscript not accepted
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Ice core isotopic records rely on the knowledge of the processes involved in the archival of the snow. In the East Antarctic Plateau, post-deposition processes strongly affect the signal found in the surface and buried snow compared to the initial climatic signal. We evaluate the different contributions to the surface snow isotopic composition between the precipitation and the exchanges with the atmosphere and the variability of the isotopic signal found in profiles from snow pits.
Thomas Münch, Sepp Kipfstuhl, Johannes Freitag, Hanno Meyer, and Thomas Laepple
Clim. Past, 12, 1565–1581, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1565-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1565-2016, 2016
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Ice-core oxygen isotope ratios are a key climate archive to infer past temperatures, an interpretation however complicated by non-climatic noise. Based on 50 m firn trenches, we present for the first time a two-dimensional view (vertical × horizontal) of how oxygen isotopes are stored in Antarctic firn. A statistical noise model allows inferences for the validity of ice coring efforts to reconstruct past temperatures, highlighting the need of replicate cores for Holocene climate reconstructions.
Liv Heinecke, Steffen Mischke, Karsten Adler, Anja Barth, Boris K. Biskaborn, Birgit Plessen, Ingmar Nitze, Gerhard Kuhn, Ilhomjon Rajabov, and Ulrike Herzschuh
Clim. Past Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2016-34, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2016-34, 2016
Revised manuscript not accepted
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The climate history of the Pamir Mountains (Tajikistan) during the last ~29 kyr was investigated using sediments from Lake Karakul as environmental archive. The inferred lake level was highest from the Late Glacial to the early Holocene and lake changes were mainly coupled to climate change. We conclude that the joint influence of Westerlies and Indian Monsoon during the early Holocene caused comparatively moist conditions, while dominating Westerlies yielded dry conditions since 6.7 cal kyr BP.
S. Lovejoy, L. del Rio Amador, and R. Hébert
Earth Syst. Dynam., 6, 637–658, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-6-637-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-6-637-2015, 2015
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Numerical climate models forecast the weather well beyond the deterministic limit. In this “macroweather” regime, they are random number generators. Stochastic models can have more realistic noises and can be forced to converge to the real-world climate. Existing stochastic models do not exploit the very long atmospheric and oceanic memories. With skill up to decades, our new ScaLIng Macroweather Model (SLIMM) exploits this to make forecasts more accurate than GCMs.
M. Fritz, T. Opel, G. Tanski, U. Herzschuh, H. Meyer, A. Eulenburg, and H. Lantuit
The Cryosphere, 9, 737–752, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-737-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-737-2015, 2015
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Ground ice in permafrost has not, until now, been considered to be a source of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and other elements that are important for ecosystems and carbon cycling.
Ice wedges in the Arctic Yedoma region hold 45.2 Tg DOC (Tg = 10^12g), 33.6 Tg DIC and a freshwater reservoir of 4200 km³.
Leaching of terrestrial organic matter is the most relevant process of DOC sequestration into ground ice.
J. Strauss, L. Schirrmeister, K. Mangelsdorf, L. Eichhorn, S. Wetterich, and U. Herzschuh
Biogeosciences, 12, 2227–2245, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-2227-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-2227-2015, 2015
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Climatic warming is affecting permafrost, including decomposition of organic matter (OM). However, quantitative data for the quality of OM and its availability for decomposition is limited. We analyzed the quality of OM in late Pleistocene (Yedoma) and Holocene (thermokarst) deposits. A lack of depth trends reveals a constant quality of OM showing that permafrost acts like a freezer, preserving OM quality. This OM will be susceptible to decomposition under climatic warming.
B. Aichner, S. J. Feakins, J. E. Lee, U. Herzschuh, and X. Liu
Clim. Past, 11, 619–633, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-619-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-619-2015, 2015
A. Dallmeyer, M. Claussen, N. Fischer, K. Haberkorn, S. Wagner, M. Pfeiffer, L. Jin, V. Khon, Y. Wang, and U. Herzschuh
Clim. Past, 11, 305–326, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-305-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-305-2015, 2015
A. A. Andreev, P. E. Tarasov, V. Wennrich, E. Raschke, U. Herzschuh, N. R. Nowaczyk, J. Brigham-Grette, and M. Melles
Clim. Past, 10, 1017–1039, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-1017-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-1017-2014, 2014
Y. Wang, U. Herzschuh, L. S. Shumilovskikh, S. Mischke, H. J. B. Birks, J. Wischnewski, J. Böhner, F. Schlütz, F. Lehmkuhl, B. Diekmann, B. Wünnemann, and C. Zhang
Clim. Past, 10, 21–39, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-21-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-21-2014, 2014
R. Zibulski, U. Herzschuh, L. A. Pestryakova, J. Wolter, S. Müller, N. Schilling, S. Wetterich, L. Schirrmeister, and F. Tian
Biogeosciences, 10, 5703–5728, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-5703-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-5703-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Domain: ESSD – Land | Subject: Biogeosciences and biodiversity
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Spatiotemporally consistent global dataset of the GIMMS leaf area index (GIMMS LAI4g) from 1982 to 2020
CEDAR-GPP: spatiotemporally upscaled estimates of gross primary productivity incorporating CO2 fertilization
Spatiotemporally consistent global dataset of the GIMMS Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (PKU GIMMS NDVI) from 1982 to 2022
CLIM4OMICS: a geospatially comprehensive climate and multi-OMICS database for maize phenotype predictability in the United States and Canada
Quantifying exchangeable base cations in permafrost: a reserve of nutrients about to thaw
Routine monitoring of western Lake Erie to track water quality changes associated with cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms
The Portuguese Large Wildfire Spread database (PT-FireSprd)
Thirty-meter map of young forest age in China
GRiMeDB: the Global River Methane Database of concentrations and fluxes
A gridded dataset of a leaf-age-dependent leaf area index seasonality product over tropical and subtropical evergreen broadleaved forests
Fire weather index data under historical and shared socioeconomic pathway projections in the 6th phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project from 1850 to 2100
A remote-sensing-based dataset to characterize the ecosystem functioning and functional diversity in the Biosphere Reserve of the Sierra Nevada (southeastern Spain)
A global long-term, high-resolution satellite radar backscatter data record (1992–2022+): merging C-band ERS/ASCAT and Ku-band QSCAT
A global database on holdover time of lightning-ignited wildfires
National CO2 budgets (2015–2020) inferred from atmospheric CO2 observations in support of the global stocktake
Mammals in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone's Red Forest: a motion-activated camera trap study
Maps with 1 km resolution reveal increases in above- and belowground forest biomass carbon pools in China over the past 20 years
Emma Rehn, Haidee Cadd, Scott Mooney, Tim J. Cohen, Henry Munack, Alexandru T. Codilean, Matthew Adeleye, Kristen K. Beck, Mark Constantine IV, Chris Gouramanis, Johanna M. Hanson, Penelope J. Jones, A. Peter Kershaw, Lydia Mackenzie, Maame Maisie, Michela Mariani, Kia Matley, David McWethy, Keely Mills, Patrick Moss, Nicholas R. Patton, Cassandra Rowe, Janelle Stevenson, John Tibby, and Janet Wilmshurst
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 2681–2692, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2681-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2681-2025, 2025
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This paper presents SahulCHAR, a new collection of palaeofire (ancient fire) records from Australia, New Guinea, and New Zealand. SahulCHAR version 1 contains 687 records of sedimentary charcoal or black carbon, including digitized data, records from existing databases, and original author-submitted data. SahulCHAR is a much-needed update to past charcoal compilations that will also provide greater representation of records from this region in future global syntheses to understand past fire.
Judith Vogt, Martijn M. T. A. Pallandt, Luana S. Basso, Abdullah Bolek, Kseniia Ivanova, Mark Schlutow, Gerardo Celis, McKenzie Kuhn, Marguerite Mauritz, Edward A. G. Schuur, Kyle Arndt, Anna-Maria Virkkala, Isabel Wargowsky, and Mathias Göckede
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 2553–2573, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2553-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2553-2025, 2025
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We present a meta-dataset of greenhouse gas observations in the Arctic and boreal regions, including information on sites where greenhouse gases have been measured using different measurement techniques. We provide a novel repository of metadata to facilitate synthesis efforts for regions undergoing rapid environmental change. The meta-dataset shows where measurements are missing and will be updated as new measurements are published.
Qing Ying, Benjamin Poulter, Jennifer D. Watts, Kyle A. Arndt, Anna-Maria Virkkala, Lori Bruhwiler, Youmi Oh, Brendan M. Rogers, Susan M. Natali, Hilary Sullivan, Amanda Armstrong, Eric J. Ward, Luke D. Schiferl, Clayton D. Elder, Olli Peltola, Annett Bartsch, Ankur R. Desai, Eugénie Euskirchen, Mathias Göckede, Bernhard Lehner, Mats B. Nilsson, Matthias Peichl, Oliver Sonnentag, Eeva-Stiina Tuittila, Torsten Sachs, Aram Kalhori, Masahito Ueyama, and Zhen Zhang
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 2507–2534, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2507-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2507-2025, 2025
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We present daily methane (CH4) fluxes of northern wetlands at 10 km resolution during 2016–2022 (WetCH4) derived from a novel machine learning framework. We estimated an average annual CH4 emission of 22.8 ± 2.4 Tg CH4 yr−1 (15.7–51.6 Tg CH4 yr−1). Emissions were intensified in 2016, 2020, and 2022, with the largest interannual variation coming from Western Siberia. Continued, all-season tower observations and improved soil moisture products are needed for future improvement of CH4 upscaling.
Alba Viana-Soto and Cornelius Senf
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 2373–2404, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2373-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2373-2025, 2025
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Europe's forests are undergoing complex changes in response to increasing disturbances driven by climate and land use changes. Here, we present the European Forest Disturbance Atlas, a satellite-based approach for mapping annual forest disturbances across continental Europe from 1985 onwards. Maps provide insights into the year of disturbance occurrence, the actual frequency of disturbances, severity and the underlying causal agent, thus contributing to a future monitoring system envisioned for Europe.
Katharina Jentzsch, Lona van Delden, Matthias Fuchs, and Claire C. Treat
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 2331–2372, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2331-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2331-2025, 2025
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Methane is a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming, but we do not fully understand how much is released from natural sources like wetlands. To measure methane over large areas, many measurements are needed, often from small chambers that are placed on the ground. However, different researchers use different measurement setups, making it hard to combine data. We surveyed 36 researchers about their methods, summarized the responses, and identified ways to make the data more comparable.
Simeon Lisovski, Alexandra Runge, Iuliia Shevtsova, Nele Landgraf, Anne Morgenstern, Ronald Reagan Okoth, Matthias Fuchs, Nikolay Lashchinskiy, Carl Stadie, Alison Beamish, Ulrike Herzschuh, Guido Grosse, and Birgit Heim
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 1707–1730, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1707-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1707-2025, 2025
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The Lena Delta is the largest river delta in the Arctic and represents a biodiversity hotspot. Here, we describe multiple field datasets and a detailed habitat classification map for the Lena Delta. We present context and methods of these openly available datasets and show how they can improve our understanding of the rapidly changing Arctic tundra system.
Sijia Li and Hongliang Fang
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 1347–1366, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1347-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1347-2025, 2025
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Leaf inclination angle (LIA) is a vital trait in radiative transfer, rainfall interception, evapotranspiration, photosynthesis, and hydrological processes. However, global LIA knowledge is still lacking. This study generated the first global 500 m LIA products by gap-filling LIA measurement data. The global LIA is 41.47° ± 9.55° and increases with latitude. LIA products could enhance our understanding of global LIA and assist remote sensing retrieval and land surface modeling studies.
Xufeng Wang, Tao Che, Jingfeng Xiao, Tonghong Wang, Junlei Tan, Yang Zhang, Zhiguo Ren, Liying Geng, Haibo Wang, Ziwei Xu, Shaomin Liu, and Xin Li
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 1329–1346, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1329-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1329-2025, 2025
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In this study, carbon flux and auxiliary meteorological data are post-processed to create an analysis-ready dataset for 34 sites across six ecosystems in the Heihe River basin. Overall, 18 sites have multi-year observations, while 16 were observed only during the 2012 growing season, totaling 1513 site months. This dataset can be used to explore carbon exchange, assess ecosystem responses to climate change, support upscaling studies, and evaluate carbon cycle models.
Masooma Batool, Fanny J. Sarrazin, and Rohini Kumar
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 881–916, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-881-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-881-2025, 2025
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Our paper presents a reconstruction and analysis of the gridded P surplus in European landscapes from 1850 to 2019 at a 5 arcmin resolution. By utilizing 48 different estimates, we account for uncertainties in major components of the P surplus. Our findings highlight substantial historical changes, with the total P surplus in the EU 27 tripling over 170 years. Our dataset enables flexible aggregation at various spatial scales, providing critical insights for land and water management strategies.
Thomas Dirnböck, Michael Bahn, Eugenio Diaz-Pines, Ika Djukic, Michael Englisch, Karl Gartner, Günther Gollobich, Johannes Ingrisch, Barbara Kitzler, Karl Knaebel, Johannes Kobler, Andreas Maier, Armin Malli, Ivo Offenthaler, Johannes Peterseil, Gisela Pröll, Sarah Venier, Christoph Wohner, Sophie Zechmeister-Boltenstern, Anita Zolles, and Stephan Glatzel
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 685–702, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-685-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-685-2025, 2025
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Long-term observation sites have been established in six Austrian locations, covering major ecosystem types such as forests, grasslands, and wetlands. The purpose of these observations is to measure baselines for assessing the impacts of extreme climate events on the carbon cycle. The collected datasets include meteorological variables, soil temperature and moisture, carbon dioxide fluxes, and tree stem growth in forests at a resolution of 15–60 min between 2019 and 2021.
Xueqin Yang, Qingling Sun, Liusheng Han, Wenping Yuan, Jie Tian, Liyang Liu, Wei Zheng, Mei Wang, Yunpeng Wang, and Xiuzhi Chen
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-64, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-64, 2025
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
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Understanding how leaves absorb carbon from the atmosphere is essential for predicting changes in global forests. Young leaves play a key role in this process, but their efficiency has been difficult to measure at large scales. Using satellite data, we developed a new method to track the seasonal patterns of young leaves’ photosynthetic capacity from 2001 to 2018. Our dataset helps scientists better understand forest growth and how ecosystems respond to climate change.
Masahito Ueyama, Yuta Takao, Hiromi Yazawa, Makiko Tanaka, Hironori Yabuki, Tomo’omi Kumagai, Hiroki Iwata, Md. Abdul Awal, Mingyuan Du, Yoshinobu Harazono, Yoshiaki Hata, Takashi Hirano, Tsutom Hiura, Reiko Ide, Sachinobu Ishida, Mamoru Ishikawa, Kenzo Kitamura, Yuji Kominami, Shujiro Komiya, Ayumi Kotani, Yuta Inoue, Takashi Machimura, Kazuho Matsumoto, Yojiro Matsuura, Yasuko Mizoguchi, Shohei Murayama, Hirohiko Nagano, Taro Nakai, Tatsuro Nakaji, Ko Nakaya, Shinjiro Ohkubo, Takeshi Ohta, Keisuke Ono, Taku M. Saitoh, Ayaka Sakabe, Takanori Shimizu, Seiji Shimoda, Michiaki Sugita, Kentaro Takagi, Yoshiyuki Takahashi, Naoya Takamura, Satoru Takanashi, Takahiro Takimoto, Yukio Yasuda, Qinxue Wang, Jun Asanuma, Hideo Hasegawa, Tetsuya Hiyama, Yoshihiro Iijima, Shigeyuki Ishidoya, Masayuki Itoh, Tomomichi Kato, Hiroaki Kondo, Yoshiko Kosugi, Tomonori Kume, Takahisa Maeda, Trofim Maximov, Ryo Moriwaki, Hiroyuki Muraoka, Roman Petrov, Jun Suzuki, Shingo Taniguchi, and Kazuhito Ichii
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-615, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-615, 2025
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The JapanFlux2024 dataset, created through collaboration across Japan and East Asia, includes eddy covariance data from 79 sites spanning 652 site-years (1990–2023). This comprehensive dataset offers valuable insights into energy, water, and CO2 fluxes, supporting research on land-atmosphere interactions and process models. Compatible with FLUXNET, it fosters global collaboration and advances research in environmental science and regional climate dynamics.
Gudeta Weldesemayat Sileshi, Edmundo Barrios, Johannes Lehmann, and Francesco Nicola Tubiello
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 369–391, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-369-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-369-2025, 2025
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Agricultural, fishery, forestry and agro-processing activities produce large quantities of residues, by-products and waste materials every year. Here, we present a global organic matter database (OMD), the first of its kind, consolidating estimates of residues and by-products potentially available for use in a circular bio-economy. It also provides definitions, typologies and methods to aid consistent classification, estimation and reporting of the various residues and by-products.
Rong Shang, Xudong Lin, Jing M. Chen, Yunjian Liang, Keyan Fang, Mingzhu Xu, Yulin Yan, Weimin Ju, Guirui Yu, Nianpeng He, Li Xu, Liangyun Liu, Jing Li, Wang Li, Jun Zhai, and Zhongmin Hu
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-574, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-574, 2025
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
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Forest age is critical for carbon cycle modelling and effective forest management. Existing datasets, however, have low spatial resolutions or limited temporal coverage. This study introduces China's Annual Forest Age Dataset (CAFA), spanning 1986–2022 at 30-m resolution. By tracking forest disturbances, we annually update ages. Validation shows small errors for disturbed forests and larger for undisturbed forests. CAFA can enhance carbon cycle modelling and forest management in China.
Kelly S. Aho, Kaelin M. Cawley, Robert T. Hensley, Robert O. Hall Jr., Walter K. Dodds, and Keli J. Goodman
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 5563–5578, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-5563-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-5563-2024, 2024
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Gas exchange is fundamental to many biogeochemical processes in streams and depends on the degree of gas saturation and the gas transfer velocity (k). Currently, k is harder to measure than concentration. Here, we present a processing pipeline to estimate k from tracer-gas experiments conducted in 22 streams by the National Ecological Observatory Network. The processed dataset (n = 339) represents the largest compilation of standardized k estimates available.
Anna Talucci, Michael M. Loranty, Jean E. Holloway, Brendan M. Rogers, Heather D. Alexander, Natalie Baillargeon, Jennifer L. Baltzer, Logan T. Berner, Amy Breen, Leya Brodt, Brian Buma, Jacqueline Dean, Clement J. F. Delcourt, Lucas R. Diaz, Catherine M. Dieleman, Thomas A. Douglas, Gerald V. Frost, Benjamin V. Gaglioti, Rebecca E. Hewitt, Teresa Hollingsworth, M. Torre Jorgenson, Mark J. Lara, Rachel A. Loehman, Michelle C. Mack, Kristen L. Manies, Christina Minions, Susan M. Natali, Jonathan A. O'Donnell, David Olefeldt, Alison K. Paulson, Adrian V. Rocha, Lisa B. Saperstein, Tatiana A. Shestakova, Seeta Sistla, Oleg Sizov, Andrey Soromotin, Merritt R. Turetsky, Sander Veraverbeke, and Michelle A. Walvoord
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-526, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-526, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
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Wildfires have the potential to accelerate permafrost thaw and the associated feedbacks to climate change. We assembled a data set of permafrost thaw depth measurements from burned and unburned sites contributed by researchers from across the northern high latitude region. We estimated maximum thaw depth for each measurement, which addresses a key challenge: the ability to assess impacts of wildfire on maximum thaw depth when measurement timing varies.
Yifang Shi and W. Daniel Kissling
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-488, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-488, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
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We present a new set of multi-temporal LiDAR metrics of ecosystem structure derived from four national ALS surveys of the Netherlands (AHN1–AHN4), capturing vegetation height, cover, and structural variability over the past two decades (1998–2022). Around 70 TB point clouds have been processed to read-to-use raster layers at 10 m resolution (~ 59 GB), enabling a wide use and uptake of ecosystem structure information in biodiversity and habitat monitoring, ecosystem and carbon dynamic modelling.
Miina Rautiainen, Aarne Hovi, Daniel Schraik, Jan Hanuš, Petr Lukeš, Zuzana Lhotáková, and Lucie Homolová
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 5069–5087, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-5069-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-5069-2024, 2024
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Radiative transfer models play a key role in monitoring vegetation using remote sensing data such as satellite or airborne images. The development of these models has been hindered by a lack of comprehensive ground reference data on structural and spectral characteristics of forests. Here, we reported datasets on the structural and spectral properties of temperate, hemiboreal, and boreal European forest stands. We anticipate that these data will have wide use in remote sensing applications.
Ruxandra-Maria Zotta, Leander Moesinger, Robin van der Schalie, Mariette Vreugdenhil, Wolfgang Preimesberger, Thomas Frederikse, Richard de Jeu, and Wouter Dorigo
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 4573–4617, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4573-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4573-2024, 2024
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VODCA v2 is a dataset providing vegetation indicators for long-term ecosystem monitoring. VODCA v2 comprises two products: VODCA CXKu, spanning 34 years of observations (1987–2021), suitable for monitoring upper canopy dynamics, and VODCA L (2010–2021), for above-ground biomass monitoring. VODCA v2 has lower noise levels than the previous product version and provides valuable insights into plant water dynamics and biomass changes, even in areas where optical data are limited.
Peiyu Cao, Bo Yi, Franco Bilotto, Carlos Gonzalez Fischer, Mario Herrero, and Chaoqun Lu
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 4557–4572, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4557-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4557-2024, 2024
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This article presents a spatially explicit time series dataset reconstructing crop-specific phosphorus fertilizer application rates, timing, and methods at a 4 km × 4 km resolution in the United States from 1850 to 2022. We comprehensively characterized the spatio-temporal dynamics of P fertilizer management over the last 170 years by considering cross-crop variations. This dataset will greatly contribute to the field of agricultural sustainability assessment and Earth system modeling.
Chad A. Burton, Sami W. Rifai, Luigi J. Renzullo, and Albert I. J. M. Van Dijk
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 4389–4416, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4389-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4389-2024, 2024
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Understanding vegetation response to environmental change requires accurate, long-term data on vegetation condition (VC). We evaluated existing satellite VC datasets over Australia and found them lacking, so we developed a new VC dataset for Australia, AusENDVI. It can be used for studying Australia's changing vegetation dynamics and downstream impacts on the carbon and water cycles, and it provides a reliable foundation for further research into the drivers of vegetation change.
Tianjing Ren and Andong Cai
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-343, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-343, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
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This study compiles a global database of soil dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations, a key factor in soil health and climate change. Using machine learning, it identifies the most influential factors affecting soil DOC levels and maps global patterns. The findings help guide soil management and climate strategies, with the dataset available for further research.
Xiaoran Zhu, Dong Chen, Maruko Kogure, Elizabeth Hoy, Logan T. Berner, Amy L. Breen, Abhishek Chatterjee, Scott J. Davidson, Gerald V. Frost, Teresa N. Hollingsworth, Go Iwahana, Randi R. Jandt, Anja N. Kade, Tatiana V. Loboda, Matt J. Macander, Michelle Mack, Charles E. Miller, Eric A. Miller, Susan M. Natali, Martha K. Raynolds, Adrian V. Rocha, Shiro Tsuyuzaki, Craig E. Tweedie, Donald A. Walker, Mathew Williams, Xin Xu, Yingtong Zhang, Nancy French, and Scott Goetz
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 3687–3703, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-3687-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-3687-2024, 2024
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The Arctic tundra is experiencing widespread physical and biological changes, largely in response to warming, yet scientific understanding of tundra ecology and change remains limited due to relatively limited accessibility and studies compared to other terrestrial biomes. To support synthesis research and inform future studies, we created the Synthesized Alaskan Tundra Field Dataset (SATFiD), which brings together field datasets and includes vegetation, active-layer, and fire properties.
Yishuo Cui, Shouzhi Chen, Yufeng Gong, Mingwei Li, Zitong Jia, Yuyu Zhou, and Yongshuo H. Fu
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-225, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-225, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
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Global changes have significantly altered vegetation phenology, affecting terrestrial carbon cycle. While various remote-sensing-based phenology datasets exist, they often suffer from inconsistencies and uncertainties. To address this, we developed a new phenology dataset spanning 1982 to 2022 using a reliability ensemble averaging method. Validated against ground data, our dataset demonstrates substantially improved accuracy, providing a novel and reliable source for global ecological studies.
Chu Zou, Shanshan Du, Xinjie Liu, and Liangyun Liu
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 2789–2809, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-2789-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-2789-2024, 2024
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To obtain a temporally consistent satellite solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence
(SIF) product (TCSIF), we corrected for time degradation of GOME-2A using a pseudo-invariant method. After the correction, the global SIF grew by 0.70 % per year from 2007 to 2021, and 62.91 % of vegetated regions underwent an increase in SIF. The dataset is a promising tool for monitoring global vegetation variation and will advance our understanding of vegetation's photosynthetic activities at a global scale.
(SIF) product (TCSIF), we corrected for time degradation of GOME-2A using a pseudo-invariant method. After the correction, the global SIF grew by 0.70 % per year from 2007 to 2021, and 62.91 % of vegetated regions underwent an increase in SIF. The dataset is a promising tool for monitoring global vegetation variation and will advance our understanding of vegetation's photosynthetic activities at a global scale.
Daju Wang, Peiyang Ren, Xiaosheng Xia, Lei Fan, Zhangcai Qin, Xiuzhi Chen, and Wenping Yuan
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 2465–2481, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-2465-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-2465-2024, 2024
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This study generated a high-precision dataset, locating forest harvested carbon and quantifying post-harvest wood emissions for various uses. It enhances our understanding of forest harvesting and post-harvest carbon dynamics in China, providing essential data for estimating the forest ecosystem carbon budget and emphasizing wood utilization's impact on carbon emissions.
Nannan An, Nan Lu, Weiliang Chen, Yongzhe Chen, Hao Shi, Fuzhong Wu, and Bojie Fu
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 1771–1810, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1771-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1771-2024, 2024
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This study generated a spatially continuous plant functional trait dataset (~1 km) in China in combination with field observations, environmental variables and vegetation indices using machine learning methods. Results showed that wood density, leaf P concentration and specific leaf area showed good accuracy with an average R2 of higher than 0.45. This dataset could provide data support for development of Earth system models to predict vegetation distribution and ecosystem functions.
Kai Yan, Jingrui Wang, Rui Peng, Kai Yang, Xiuzhi Chen, Gaofei Yin, Jinwei Dong, Marie Weiss, Jiabin Pu, and Ranga B. Myneni
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 1601–1622, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1601-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-1601-2024, 2024
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Variations in observational conditions have led to poor spatiotemporal consistency in leaf area index (LAI) time series. Using prior knowledge, we leveraged high-quality observations and spatiotemporal correlation to reprocess MODIS LAI, thereby generating HiQ-LAI, a product that exhibits fewer abnormal fluctuations in time series. Reprocessing was done on Google Earth Engine, providing users with convenient access to this value-added data and facilitating large-scale research and applications.
Fabio Oriani, Gregoire Mariethoz, and Manuel Chevalier
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 731–742, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-731-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-731-2024, 2024
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Modern and fossil pollen data contain precious information for reconstructing the climate and environment of the past. However, these data are only achieved for single locations with no continuity in space. We present here a systematic atlas of 194 digital maps containing the spatial estimation of contemporary pollen presence over Europe. This dataset constitutes a free and ready-to-use tool to study climate, biodiversity, and environment in time and space.
João Paulo Darela-Filho, Anja Rammig, Katrin Fleischer, Tatiana Reichert, Laynara Figueiredo Lugli, Carlos Alberto Quesada, Luis Carlos Colocho Hurtarte, Mateus Dantas de Paula, and David M. Lapola
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 715–729, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-715-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-715-2024, 2024
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Phosphorus (P) is crucial for plant growth, and scientists have created models to study how it interacts with carbon cycle in ecosystems. To apply these models, it is important to know the distribution of phosphorus in soil. In this study we estimated the distribution of phosphorus in the Amazon region. The results showed a clear gradient of soil development and P content. These maps can help improve ecosystem models and generate new hypotheses about phosphorus availability in the Amazon.
Mengyao Zhu, Junhu Dai, Huanjiong Wang, Juha M. Alatalo, Wei Liu, Yulong Hao, and Quansheng Ge
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 277–293, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-277-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-277-2024, 2024
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This study utilized 24,552 in situ phenology observation records from the Chinese Phenology Observation Network to model and map 24 woody plant species phenology and ground forest phenology over China from 1951 to 2020. These phenology maps are the first gridded, independent and reliable phenology data sources for China, offering a high spatial resolution of 0.1° and an average deviation of about 10 days. It contributes to more comprehensive research on plant phenology and climate change.
Jiabin Pu, Kai Yan, Samapriya Roy, Zaichun Zhu, Miina Rautiainen, Yuri Knyazikhin, and Ranga B. Myneni
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 15–34, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-15-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-15-2024, 2024
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Long-term global LAI/FPAR products provide the fundamental dataset for accessing vegetation dynamics and studying climate change. This study develops a sensor-independent LAI/FPAR climate data record based on the integration of Terra-MODIS/Aqua-MODIS/VIIRS LAI/FPAR standard products and applies advanced gap-filling techniques. The SI LAI/FPAR CDR provides a valuable resource for researchers studying vegetation dynamics and their relationship to climate change in the 21st century.
Wojciech Tylmann, Alicja Bonk, Dariusz Borowiak, Paulina Głowacka, Kamil Nowiński, Joanna Piłczyńska, Agnieszka Szczerba, and Maurycy Żarczyński
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 5093–5103, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5093-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5093-2023, 2023
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We present a dataset from the decade-long monitoring of Lake Żabińskie, a hardwater and eutrophic lake in northeast Poland. The lake contains varved sediments, which form a unique archive of past environmental variability. The monitoring program was designed to capture a pattern of relationships between meteorological conditions, limnological processes, and modern sedimentation and to verify if meteorological and limnological phenomena can be precisely tracked with varves.
Sen Cao, Muyi Li, Zaichun Zhu, Zhe Wang, Junjun Zha, Weiqing Zhao, Zeyu Duanmu, Jiana Chen, Yaoyao Zheng, Yue Chen, Ranga B. Myneni, and Shilong Piao
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 4877–4899, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-4877-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-4877-2023, 2023
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The long-term global leaf area index (LAI) products are critical for characterizing vegetation dynamics under environmental changes. This study presents an updated GIMMS LAI product (GIMMS LAI4g; 1982−2020) based on PKU GIMMS NDVI and massive Landsat LAI samples. With higher accuracy than other LAI products, GIMMS LAI4g removes the effects of orbital drift and sensor degradation in AVHRR data. It has better temporal consistency before and after 2000 and a more reasonable global vegetation trend.
Yanghui Kang, Max Gaber, Maoya Bassiouni, Xinchen Lu, and Trevor Keenan
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2023-337, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2023-337, 2023
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
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CEDAR-GPP provides spatiotemporally upscaled estimates of Gross Primary Productivity, uniquely incorporating the direct effect of elevated atmospheric CO2 on global photosynthesis. This dataset was produced by upscaling global eddy covariance measurements with multi-source satellite observations and climate data using machine learning. Available at monthly and 0.05° resolution from 1982 to 2020, CEDAR-GPP offers critical insights into ecosystem-climate interaction.
Muyi Li, Sen Cao, Zaichun Zhu, Zhe Wang, Ranga B. Myneni, and Shilong Piao
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 4181–4203, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-4181-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-4181-2023, 2023
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Long-term global Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) products support the understanding of changes in vegetation under environmental changes. This study generates a consistent global NDVI product (PKU GIMMS NDVI) from 1982–2022 that eliminates the issue of orbital drift and sensor degradation in Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data. More accurate than its predecessor (GIMMS NDVI3g), it shows high temporal consistency with MODIS NDVI in describing vegetation trends.
Parisa Sarzaeim, Francisco Muñoz-Arriola, Diego Jarquin, Hasnat Aslam, and Natalia De Leon Gatti
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3963–3990, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3963-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3963-2023, 2023
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A genomic, phenomic, and climate database for maize phenotype predictability in the US and Canada is introduced. The database encompasses climate from multiple sources and OMICS from the Genomes to Fields initiative (G2F) data from 2014 to 2021, including codes for input data quality and consistency controls. Earth system modelers and breeders can use CLIM4OMICS since it interconnects the climate and biological system sciences. CLIM4OMICS is designed to foster phenotype predictability.
Elisabeth Mauclet, Maëlle Villani, Arthur Monhonval, Catherine Hirst, Edward A. G. Schuur, and Sophie Opfergelt
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3891–3904, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3891-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3891-2023, 2023
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Permafrost ecosystems are limited in nutrients for vegetation development and constrain the biological activity to the active layer. Upon Arctic warming, permafrost degradation exposes organic and mineral soil material that may directly influence the capacity of the soil to retain key nutrients for vegetation growth and development. Here, we demonstrate that the average total exchangeable nutrient density (Ca, K, Mg, and Na) is more than 2 times higher in the permafrost than in the active layer.
Anna G. Boegehold, Ashley M. Burtner, Andrew C. Camilleri, Glenn Carter, Paul DenUyl, David Fanslow, Deanna Fyffe Semenyuk, Casey M. Godwin, Duane Gossiaux, Thomas H. Johengen, Holly Kelchner, Christine Kitchens, Lacey A. Mason, Kelly McCabe, Danna Palladino, Dack Stuart, Henry Vanderploeg, and Reagan Errera
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3853–3868, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3853-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3853-2023, 2023
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Western Lake Erie suffers from cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (HABs) despite decades of international management efforts. In response, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) and the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research (CIGLR) created an annual sampling program to detect, monitor, assess, and predict HABs. Here we describe the data collected from this monitoring program from 2012 to 2021.
Akli Benali, Nuno Guiomar, Hugo Gonçalves, Bernardo Mota, Fábio Silva, Paulo M. Fernandes, Carlos Mota, Alexandre Penha, João Santos, José M. C. Pereira, and Ana C. L. Sá
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3791–3818, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3791-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3791-2023, 2023
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We reconstructed the spread of 80 large wildfires that burned recently in Portugal and calculated metrics that describe how wildfires behave, such as rate of spread, growth rate, and energy released. We describe the fire behaviour distribution using six percentile intervals that can be easily communicated to both research and management communities. The database will help improve our current knowledge on wildfire behaviour and support better decision making.
Yuelong Xiao, Qunming Wang, Xiaohua Tong, and Peter M. Atkinson
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3365–3386, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3365-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3365-2023, 2023
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Forest age is closely related to forest production, carbon cycles, and other ecosystem services. Existing stand age products in China derived from remote-sensing images are of a coarse spatial resolution and are not suitable for applications at the regional scale. Here, we mapped young forest ages across China at an unprecedented fine spatial resolution of 30 m. The overall accuracy (OA) of the generated map of young forest stand ages across China was 90.28 %.
Emily H. Stanley, Luke C. Loken, Nora J. Casson, Samantha K. Oliver, Ryan A. Sponseller, Marcus B. Wallin, Liwei Zhang, and Gerard Rocher-Ros
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 2879–2926, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2879-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2879-2023, 2023
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The Global River Methane Database (GRiMeDB) presents CH4 concentrations and fluxes for flowing waters and concurrent measures of CO2, N2O, and several physicochemical variables, plus information about sample locations and methods used to measure gas fluxes. GRiMeDB is intended to increase opportunities to understand variation in fluvial CH4, test hypotheses related to greenhouse gas dynamics, and reduce uncertainty in future estimates of gas emissions from world streams and rivers.
Xueqin Yang, Xiuzhi Chen, Jiashun Ren, Wenping Yuan, Liyang Liu, Juxiu Liu, Dexiang Chen, Yihua Xiao, Qinghai Song, Yanjun Du, Shengbiao Wu, Lei Fan, Xiaoai Dai, Yunpeng Wang, and Yongxian Su
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 2601–2622, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2601-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2601-2023, 2023
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We developed the first time-mapped, continental-scale gridded dataset of monthly leaf area index (LAI) in three leaf age cohorts (i.e., young, mature, and old) from 2001–2018 data (referred to as Lad-LAI). The seasonality of three LAI cohorts from the new Lad-LAI product agrees well at eight sites with very fine-scale collections of monthly LAI. The proposed satellite-based approaches can provide references for mapping finer spatiotemporal-resolution LAI products with different leaf age cohorts.
Yann Quilcaille, Fulden Batibeniz, Andreia F. S. Ribeiro, Ryan S. Padrón, and Sonia I. Seneviratne
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 2153–2177, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2153-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2153-2023, 2023
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We present a new database of four annual fire weather indicators over 1850–2100 and over all land areas. In a 3°C warmer world with respect to preindustrial times, the mean fire weather would increase on average by at least 66% in both intensity and duration and even triple for 1-in-10-year events. The dataset is a freely available resource for fire danger studies and beyond, highlighting that the best course of action would require limiting global warming as much as possible.
Beatriz P. Cazorla, Javier Cabello, Andrés Reyes, Emilio Guirado, Julio Peñas, Antonio J. Pérez-Luque, and Domingo Alcaraz-Segura
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 1871–1887, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1871-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1871-2023, 2023
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This dataset provides scientists, environmental managers, and the public in general with valuable information on the first characterization of ecosystem functional diversity based on primary production developed in the Sierra Nevada (Spain), a biodiversity hotspot in the Mediterranean basin and an exceptional natural laboratory for ecological research within the Long-Term Social-Ecological Research (LTSER) network.
Shengli Tao, Zurui Ao, Jean-Pierre Wigneron, Sassan Saatchi, Philippe Ciais, Jérôme Chave, Thuy Le Toan, Pierre-Louis Frison, Xiaomei Hu, Chi Chen, Lei Fan, Mengjia Wang, Jiangling Zhu, Xia Zhao, Xiaojun Li, Xiangzhuo Liu, Yanjun Su, Tianyu Hu, Qinghua Guo, Zhiheng Wang, Zhiyao Tang, Yi Y. Liu, and Jingyun Fang
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 1577–1596, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1577-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1577-2023, 2023
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We provide the first long-term (since 1992), high-resolution (8.9 km) satellite radar backscatter data set (LHScat) with a C-band (5.3 GHz) signal dynamic for global lands. LHScat was created by fusing signals from ERS (1992–2001; C-band), QSCAT (1999–2009; Ku-band), and ASCAT (since 2007; C-band). LHScat has been validated against independent ERS-2 signals. It could be used in a variety of studies, such as vegetation monitoring and hydrological modelling.
Jose V. Moris, Pedro Álvarez-Álvarez, Marco Conedera, Annalie Dorph, Thomas D. Hessilt, Hugh G. P. Hunt, Renata Libonati, Lucas S. Menezes, Mortimer M. Müller, Francisco J. Pérez-Invernón, Gianni B. Pezzatti, Nicolau Pineda, Rebecca C. Scholten, Sander Veraverbeke, B. Mike Wotton, and Davide Ascoli
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 1151–1163, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1151-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1151-2023, 2023
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This work describes a database on holdover times of lightning-ignited wildfires (LIWs). Holdover time is defined as the time between lightning-induced fire ignition and fire detection. The database contains 42 datasets built with data on more than 152 375 LIWs from 13 countries in five continents from 1921 to 2020. This database is the first freely-available, harmonized and ready-to-use global source of holdover time data, which may be used to investigate LIWs and model the holdover phenomenon.
Brendan Byrne, David F. Baker, Sourish Basu, Michael Bertolacci, Kevin W. Bowman, Dustin Carroll, Abhishek Chatterjee, Frédéric Chevallier, Philippe Ciais, Noel Cressie, David Crisp, Sean Crowell, Feng Deng, Zhu Deng, Nicholas M. Deutscher, Manvendra K. Dubey, Sha Feng, Omaira E. García, David W. T. Griffith, Benedikt Herkommer, Lei Hu, Andrew R. Jacobson, Rajesh Janardanan, Sujong Jeong, Matthew S. Johnson, Dylan B. A. Jones, Rigel Kivi, Junjie Liu, Zhiqiang Liu, Shamil Maksyutov, John B. Miller, Scot M. Miller, Isamu Morino, Justus Notholt, Tomohiro Oda, Christopher W. O'Dell, Young-Suk Oh, Hirofumi Ohyama, Prabir K. Patra, Hélène Peiro, Christof Petri, Sajeev Philip, David F. Pollard, Benjamin Poulter, Marine Remaud, Andrew Schuh, Mahesh K. Sha, Kei Shiomi, Kimberly Strong, Colm Sweeney, Yao Té, Hanqin Tian, Voltaire A. Velazco, Mihalis Vrekoussis, Thorsten Warneke, John R. Worden, Debra Wunch, Yuanzhi Yao, Jeongmin Yun, Andrew Zammit-Mangion, and Ning Zeng
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 963–1004, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-963-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-963-2023, 2023
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Changes in the carbon stocks of terrestrial ecosystems result in emissions and removals of CO2. These can be driven by anthropogenic activities (e.g., deforestation), natural processes (e.g., fires) or in response to rising CO2 (e.g., CO2 fertilization). This paper describes a dataset of CO2 emissions and removals derived from atmospheric CO2 observations. This pilot dataset informs current capabilities and future developments towards top-down monitoring and verification systems.
Nicholas A. Beresford, Sergii Gashchak, Michael D. Wood, and Catherine L. Barnett
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 911–920, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-911-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-911-2023, 2023
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Camera traps were established in a highly contaminated area of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) to capture images of mammals. Over 1 year, 14 mammal species were recorded. The number of species observed did not vary with estimated radiation exposure. The data will be of value from the perspectives of effects of radiation on wildlife and also rewilding in this large, abandoned area. They may also have value in future studies investigating impacts of recent Russian military action in the CEZ.
Yongzhe Chen, Xiaoming Feng, Bojie Fu, Haozhi Ma, Constantin M. Zohner, Thomas W. Crowther, Yuanyuan Huang, Xutong Wu, and Fangli Wei
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 897–910, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-897-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-897-2023, 2023
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This study presented a long-term (2002–2021) above- and belowground biomass dataset for woody vegetation in China at 1 km resolution. It was produced by combining various types of remote sensing observations with adequate plot measurements. Over 2002–2021, China’s woody biomass increased at a high rate, especially in the central and southern parts. This dataset can be applied to evaluate forest carbon sinks across China and the efficiency of ecological restoration programs in China.
Cited articles
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Broström, A., Nielsen, A. B., Gaillard, M.-J., Hjelle, K., Mazier, F., Binney, H., Bunting, J., Fyfe, R., Meltsov, V., Poska, A., Räsänen, S., Soepboer, W., von Stedingk, H., Suutari, H., and Sugita, S.: Pollen productivity estimates of key European plant taxa for quantitative reconstruction of past vegetation: a review, Veg. Hist. Archaeobot., 17, 461–478, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-008-0148-8, 2008. a
Bunting, M. J., Schofield, J. E., and Edwards, K. J.: Estimates of relative pollen productivity (RPP) for selected taxa from southern Greenland: A pragmatic solution, Rev. Palaeobot. Palyno., 190, 66–74, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2012.11.003, 2013. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q
Cao, X., Tian, F., Li, F., Gaillard, M.-J., Rudaya, N., Xu, Q., and Herzschuh, U.: Pollen-based quantitative land-cover reconstruction for northern Asia covering the last 40 ka cal BP, Clim. Past, 15, 1503–1536, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-1503-2019, 2019. a, b
Cao, X., Tian, F., Andreev, A., Anderson, P. M., Lozhkin, A. V., Bezrukova, E., Ni, J., Rudaya, N., Stobbe, A., Wieczorek, M., and Herzschuh, U.: A taxonomically harmonized and temporally standardized fossil pollen dataset from Siberia covering the last 40 kyr, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 119–135, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-119-2020, 2020. a
Cao, X.-Y., Herzschuh, U., Telford, R. J., and Ni, J.: A modern pollen–climate dataset from China and Mongolia: Assessing its potential for climate reconstruction, Rev. Palaeobot. Palyno., 211, 87–96, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2014.08.007, 2014. a
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Davis, B. A. S., Collins, P. M., and Kaplan, J. O.: The age and post-glacial development of the modern European vegetation: a plant functional approach based on pollen data, Veg. Hist. Archaeobot., 24, 303–317, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-014-0476-9, 2015. a
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Dearing, J., Braimoh, A., Reenberg, A., Turner, B., and van der Leeuw, S.: Complex Land Systems: the Need for Long Time Perspectives to Assess their Future, Ecol. Soc., 15, https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-03645-150421, 2010. a
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Fyfe, R. M., de Beaulieu, J.-L., Binney, H., Bradshaw, R. H. W., Brewer, S., Le Flao, A., Finsinger, W., Gaillard, M.-J., Giesecke, T., Gil-Romera, G., Grimm, E. C., Huntley, B., Kunes, P., Kühl, N., Leydet, M., Lotter, A. F., Tarasov, P. E., and Tonkov, S.: The European Pollen Database: past efforts and current activities, Veg. Hist. Archaeobot., 18, 417–424, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-009-0215-9, 2009. a, b
Fyfe, R. M., Woodbridge, J., and Roberts, N.: From forest to farmland: pollen-inferred land cover change across Europe using the pseudobiomization approach, Glob. Change Biol., 21, 1197–1212, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12776, 2015. a, b, c
Gaillard, M.-J., Sugita, S., Mazier, F., Trondman, A.-K., Broström, A., Hickler, T., Kaplan, J. O., Kjellström, E., Kokfelt, U., Kuneš, P., Lemmen, C., Miller, P., Olofsson, J., Poska, A., Rundgren, M., Smith, B., Strandberg, G., Fyfe, R., Nielsen, A. B., Alenius, T., Balakauskas, L., Barnekow, L., Birks, H. J. B., Bjune, A., Björkman, L., Giesecke, T., Hjelle, K., Kalnina, L., Kangur, M., van der Knaap, W. O., Koff, T., Lagerås, P., Latałowa, M., Leydet, M., Lechterbeck, J., Lindbladh, M., Odgaard, B., Peglar, S., Segerström, U., von Stedingk, H., and Seppä, H.: Holocene land-cover reconstructions for studies on land cover-climate feedbacks, Clim. Past, 6, 483–499, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-6-483-2010, 2010. a
Ge, Y., Li, Y., Li, Y., Yang, X., Zhang, R., and Xu, Q.: Relevant source area of pollen and relative pollen productivity estimates in Bashang steppe, Quaternary Sci., 35, 934–945, http://www.dsjyj.com.cn/en/article/doi/10.11928/j.issn.1001-7410.2015.04.15 (last access: 31 March 2025), 2015. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j
Ge, Y., Li, Y., Bunting, M. J., Li, B., Li, Z., and Wang, J.: Relation between modern pollen rain, vegetation and climate in northern China: Implications for quantitative vegetation reconstruction in a steppe environment, Sci. Total Environ., 586, 25–41, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.02.027, 2017. a, b, c, d, e, f
Geng, R., Andreev, A., Kruse, S., Heim, B., van Geffen, F., Pestryakova, L., Zakharov, E., Troeva, E., Shevtsova, I., Li, F., Zhao, Y., and Herzschuh, U.: Modern Pollen Assemblages From Lake Sediments and Soil in East Siberia and Relative Pollen Productivity Estimates for Major Taxa, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 10, 837857, https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.837857, 2022. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p
Giesecke, T., Ammann, B., and Brande, A.: Palynological richness and evenness: insights from the taxa accumulation curve, Veg. Hist. Archaeobot., 23, 217–228, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-014-0435-5, 2014. a
Githumbi, E., Fyfe, R., Gaillard, M.-J., Trondman, A.-K., Mazier, F., Nielsen, A.-B., Poska, A., Sugita, S., Woodbridge, J., Azuara, J., Feurdean, A., Grindean, R., Lebreton, V., Marquer, L., Nebout-Combourieu, N., Stančikaitė, M., Tanţău, I., Tonkov, S., Shumilovskikh, L., and LandClimII data contributors: European pollen-based REVEALS land-cover reconstructions for the Holocene: methodology, mapping and potentials, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 1581–1619, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1581-2022, 2022. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i
Harris, I., Osborn, T. J., Jones, P., and Lister, D.: Version 4 of the CRU TS monthly high-resolution gridded multivariate climate dataset, Scientific Data, 7, 109, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-020-0453-3, 2020. a
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Short summary
This study reconstructed vegetation and tree cover in the Northern Hemisphere from a harmonized dataset of pollen counts from sediment and peat cores for the past 14 000 years. A model was applied to correct for differences in pollen production between different plants, and modern remote-sensing forest cover was used to validate the reconstructed tree cover. Accurate data on past vegetation are invaluable for the investigation of vegetation–climate dynamics and the validation of vegetation models.
This study reconstructed vegetation and tree cover in the Northern Hemisphere from a harmonized...
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