Urban agglomerations, such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta, are the key regions for energy conservation, carbon emission reduction and low-carbon development in China. However, spatiotemporal patterns of CO₂ emissions at fine scale in these major urban agglomerations are not well documented. In this study, a back propagation neural network based on genetic algorithm optimization (GABP) coupled with NPP/VIIRS nighttime light datasets was established to estimate the CO₂ emissions of China’s three major urban agglomerations at 500 m resolution from 2014 to 2019. The results showed that spatial patterns of CO₂ emissions presented three-core distribution in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, multiple-core distribution in the Yangtze River Delta, and null-core distribution in the Pearl River Delta. Temporal patterns of CO₂ emissions showed upward trends in 28.74–43.99% of the total areas while downward trends were shown in 13.47–15.43% of the total areas in three urban agglomerations. The total amount of CO₂ emissions in urban areas was largest among urban circles, followed by first-level urban circles and second-level urban circles. The profiles of CO₂ emissions along urbanization gradients featured high peaks and wide ranges in large cities, and low peaks and narrow ranges in small cities. Population density primarily impacted the spatial pattern of CO₂ emissions among urban agglomerations, followed by terrain slope. These findings suggested that differences in urban agglomerations should be taken into consideration in formulating emission reduction policies.

East Asia is one of the most important sources of aerosols in the world. The distribution of aerosols varies across time and space. Accurate aerosol data is crucial to identify its spatiotemporal dynamics; thus, it is of great significance to obtain and verify new aerosol data for this region. Based on the Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) data of the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) program for 17 stations from 2011 to 2020, this study comprehensively verified the accuracy and applicability of the Multi-Angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) AOD 1 km products among different seasons, elevations, and climate zones over entire East Asia. The results showed that: (1) The overall accuracy of MAIAC AOD was high in East Asia, and the accuracy of Terra was slightly better than that of Aqua. MAIAC AOD showed significant heterogeneity among sites. MAIAC AOD performed well in areas with high vegetation cover and flat terrain, while the inversion accuracy was relatively low in areas with low vegetation cover and high terrain. (2) In general, MAIAC AOD and AERONET AOD showed good agreement in different seasons, presenting as winter > spring > autumn > summer. Yet the accuracy and consistency of Terra AOD product were better than Aqua product. (3) MAIAC AOD showed different accuracy at different elevations and climate zones. It had a high correlation and best inversion accuracy with AERONET AOD at low and medium elevations. MAIAC AOD had better inversion accuracy in the arid and warm temperate zones than that in the equatorial and cold temperate zones. (4) AOD distribution and its trend showed significant spatial differences in East Asia. The high AOD values were dominant in the Sichuan basin and the eastern plains of China, as well as in India and Bangladesh, while the relatively low AOD values were distributed in southwestern China and the areas north of 40°N. AOD in most parts of East Asia showed a negative trend, indicating a great improvement in air quality in these regions.

In recent years, atmospheric aerosol pollution has seriously affected the ecological environment and human health. Understanding the spatial and temporal variation of AOD is essential to revealing the impact of aerosols on the environment. Based on the MAIAC AOD 1 km product from 2011 to 2020, we analyzed AOD’s distribution patterns and trends in different time series across East Asia. The results showed that: (1) The annual average AOD in East Asia varied between 0.203 and 0.246, with a decrease of 14.029%. The areas with high AOD values were mainly located in the North China Plain area, the Sichuan Basin area, and the Ganges Delta area, with 0.497, 0.514, and 0.527, respectively. Low AOD values were mainly found in the Tibetan Plateau and in mountainous areas north of 40° N, with 0.061 in the Tibetan Plateau area. (2) The distribution of AOD showed a logarithmic decreasing trend with increasing altitude. Meanwhile, the lower the altitude, the faster the rate of AOD changes with altitude. (3) The AOD of East Asia showed different variations in characteristics in different seasons. The maximum, minimum, and mean values of AOD in spring and summer were much higher than those in autumn and winter. The monthly average AOD reached a maximum of 0.326 in March and a minimum of 0.190 in November. The AOD showed a continuous downward trend from March to September. The highest quarterly AOD values in the North China Plain occurred in summer, while the highest quarterly AOD values in the Sichuan Basin, the Ganges Delta, and the Tibetan Plateau all occurred in spring, similar to the overall seasonal variation in East Asia.

Drought impacts carbon and water fluxes of terrestrial ecosystems, which are strongly coupled. However, the magnitudes of response of carbon and water fluxes to drought are dependent on many processes, which are more complex than previously expected. Southern China experienced regional climatic perturbation events in the past decade and a two-year drought in 2009–2010. We used a terrestrial ecosystem model coupled with remotely sensed observations and metrological data to simulate the variations of net primary productivity (NPP), evapotranspiration (ET), and water-use efficiency (WUE) (i.e., NPP/ET) in south-western China during the period 2001–2010. Using the standard precipitation index (SPI) classifying different drought stresses, we also quantified the effect of drought on the ecosystem by comparing changes in modelled estimates of monthly WUE, NPP and ET under normal (i.e., baseline) and drought conditions (i.e., 2009 and 2010). The results indicated that NPP and ET showed synchronized declines in drought periods, with time-lag effects. Furthermore, drought-induced NPP decline was larger than ET reduction. An increasing trend in WUE from the moderate to extreme drought classes occurred not only in baseline conditions but also in drought conditions. Especially in the extreme drought period (January, 2010), WUE for the forest ecosystem typically showed a positive response to drought, indicating a drought-resilient forest ecosystem. Our study has important implications for understanding climate extreme effects on the carbon and water cycle of the forest ecosystem.

Developments in hyperspectral remote sensing techniques during the last decade have enabled the use of narrowband indices to evaluate the role of forest ecosystem variables in estimating carbon (C) fluxes. In this study, narrowband bio-indicators derived from EO-1 Hyperion data were investigated to determine whether they could capture the temporal variation and estimate the spatial variability of forest C fluxes derived from eddy covariance tower data. Nineteen indices were divided into four categories of optical indices: broadband, chlorophyll, red edge, and light use efficiency. Correlation tests were performed between the selected vegetation indices, gross primary production (GPP), and ecosystem respiration (Re). Among the 19 indices, five narrowband indices (Chlorophyll Index RedEdge 710, scaled photochemical reflectance index (SPRI)*enhanced vegetation index (EVI), SPRI*normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), MCARI/OSAVI[705, 750] and the Vogelmann Index), and one broad band index (EVI) had R-squared values with a good fit for GPP and Re. The SPRI*NDVI has the highest significant coefficients of determination with GPP and Re (R² = 0.86 and 0.89, p < 0.0001, respectively). SPRI*NDVI was used in atmospheric inverse modeling at regional scales for the estimation of C fluxes. We compared the GPP spatial patterns inversed from our model with corresponding results from the Vegetation Photosynthesis Model (VPM), the Boreal Ecosystems Productivity Simulator model, and MODIS MOD17A2 products. The inversed GPP spatial patterns from our model of SPRI*NDVI had good agreement with the output from the VPM model. The normalized difference nitrogen index was well correlated with measured C net ecosystem exchange. Our findings indicated that narrowband bio-indicators based on EO-1 Hyperion images could be used to predict regional C flux variations for Northeastern China’s temperate broad-leaved Korean pine forest ecosystems.