Evaluation of satellite data on soil moisture in the South-West region of the Baikal

The present paper presents characteristics of correlation between soil moisture observations obtained from a satellite and direct observations during the warm period of 2011 and 2012 in the area of the Tunka Basin. The factors influencing the relationship are considered. It is shown that the updated satellite data on moisture of the upper soil layer and those of direct observations at a depth of 15 cm have a satisfactory relationship

Overview: Recent advances in the understanding of the northern Eurasian environments and of the urban air quality in China – a Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX) programme perspective

The Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX) Science Plan, released in 2015, addressed a need for a holistic system understanding and outlined the most urgent research needs for the rapidly changing Arctic-boreal region. Air quality in China, together with the long-range transport of atmospheric pollutants, was also indicated as one of the most crucial topics of the research agenda. These two geographical regions, the northern Eurasian Arctic-boreal region and China, especially the megacities in China, were identified as a "PEEX region". It is also important to recognize that the PEEX geographical region is an area where science-based policy actions would have significant impacts on the global climate. This paper summarizes results obtained during the last 5 years in the northern Eurasian region, together with recent observations of the air quality in the urban environments in China, in the context of the PEEX programme. The main regions of interest are the Russian Arctic, northern Eurasian boreal forests (Siberia) and peatlands, and the megacities in China. We frame our analysis against research themes introduced in the PEEX Science Plan in 2015. We summarize recent progress towards an enhanced holistic understanding of the land-atmosphere-ocean systems feedbacks. We conclude that although the scientific knowledge in these regions has increased, the new results are in many cases insufficient, and there are still gaps in our understanding of large-scale climate-Earth surface interactions and feedbacks. This arises from limitations in research infrastructures, especially the lack of coordinated, continuous and comprehensive in situ observations of the study region as well as integrative data analyses, hindering a comprehensive system analysis. The fast-changing environment and ecosystem changes driven by climate change, socio-economic activities like the China Silk Road Initiative, and the global trends like urbanization further complicate such analyses. We recognize new topics with an increasing importance in the near future, especially "the enhancing biological sequestration capacity of greenhouse gases into forests and soils to mitigate climate change" and the "socio-economic development to tackle air quality issues".Peer reviewe

Bias-corrected monthly precipitation data over South Siberia for 1979-2019 (CPSS 1.2)

Bias-Corrected Precipitation data over South Siberia (CPSS 1.2) contains monthly precipitation data for the area within the coordinates 50-65 N, 60-120 E for the period from January 1979 to December 2019. CPSS data were combined from monthly total precipitation data from ERA5 reanalysis European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (Copernicus Climate Change…, 2017) and precipitation data records from ground weather stations (Il'in et al., 2013). The ERA5 data were scaled according to the derived scale coefficient. The linear scaling coefficient for each month and weather station were calculated and extrapolated to the study area using the ordinary kriging method. Data spatial resolution is 0.25° in the latitude and 0.25° in the longitude. CPSS reproduces the spatial variability of precipitation more precisely than can be done from the weather station observation network. The CPSS dataset will be useful for the study of extreme precipitation events and allow for more accurate hydrologic risk assessment at a regional level based on climate model results. Data provided in NetCDF (Network Common Data Form) format. Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), 2017. ERA5: Fifth generation of ECMWF atmospheric reanalyses of the global climate

Evaluation of satellite data on soil moisture in the South-West region of the Baikal

The present paper presents characteristics of correlation between soil moisture observations obtained from a satellite and direct observations during the warm period of 2011 and 2012 in the area of the Tunka Basin. The factors influencing the relationship are considered. It is shown that the updated satellite data on moisture of the upper soil layer and those of direct observations at a depth of 15 cm have a satisfactory relationship