Soil respiration (R_s) represents the largest flux of CO₂ from terrestrial ecosystems to the atmosphere, but its spatial and temporal changes as well as the driving forces are not well understood. We derived a product of annual global R_s from 2000 to 2014 at 1 km by 1 km spatial resolution using remote sensing data and biome-specific statistical models. Different from the existing view that climate change dominated changes in R_s, we showed that land-cover change played a more important role in regulating R_s changes in temperate and boreal regions during 2000–2014. Significant changes in R_s occurred more frequently in areas with significant changes in short vegetation cover (i.e., all vegetation shorter than 5 m in height) than in areas with significant climate change. These results contribute to our understanding of global R_s patterns and highlight the importance of land-cover change in driving global and regional R_s changes.

Land surface temperature (LST) plays a critical role in land surface processes. However, as one of the effective means for obtaining global LST observations, remote sensing observations are inherently affected by cloud cover, resulting in varying degrees of missing data in satellite-derived LST products. Here, we propose a solution. First, the data interpolating empirical orthogonal functions (DINEOF) method is used to reconstruct invalid LSTs in cloud-contaminated areas into ideal, clear-sky LSTs. Then, a cumulative distribution function (CDF) matching-based method is developed to correct the ideal, clear-sky LSTs to the real LSTs. Experimental results prove that this method can effectively reconstruct missing LST data and guarantee acceptable accuracy in most regions of the world, with RMSEs of 1–2 K and R values of 0.820–0.996 under ideal, clear-sky conditions and RMSEs of 4–7 K and R values of 0.811–0.933 under all weather conditions. Finally, a spatiotemporally continuous MODIS LST dataset at 0.05° latitude/longitude grids is produced based on the above method.

Analysis of cloud cover and its diurnal variation over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) is highly reliant on satellite data; however, the accuracy of cloud detection from both polar-orbiting and geostationary satellites over this area remains unclear. The new-generation geostationary Himawari-8 satellites provide high-resolution spatial and temporal information about clouds over the Tibetan Plateau. In this study, the cloud detection of MODIS and AHI is investigated and validated against CALIPSO measurements. For AHI and MODIS, the false alarm rate of AHI and MODIS in cloud identification over the TP was 7.51% and 1.94%, respectively, and the cloud hit rate was 73.55% and 80.15%, respectively. Using hourly cloud-cover data from the Himawari-8 satellites, we found that at the monthly scale, the diurnal cycle in cloud cover over the TP tends to increase throughout the day, with the minimum and maximum cloud fractions occurring at 10:00 a.m. and 18:00 p.m. local time. Due to the limited time resolution of polar-orbiting satellites, the underestimation of MODIS daytime average cloud cover is approximately 4.00% at the annual scale, with larger biases during the spring (5.40%) and winter (5.90%).

Surface downward solar radiation compositions (SSRC), including photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), ultraviolet-A (UVA), ultraviolet-B (UVB), and shortwave radiation (SWR), with high spatial–temporal resolutions and precision are essential for applications including solar power, vegetation photosynthesis, and environmental health. In this study, an optimal algorithm was developed to calculate SSRC, including their direct and diffuse components. Key features of the algorithm include combining the radiative transfer model with machine learning techniques, including full consideration of the effects of aerosol types, cloud phases, and gas components. A near-real-time monitoring system was developed based on this algorithm, with SSRC products generated from Himawari-8 / 9 and Fengyun-4 series data. Validation with ground-based data shows that the accuracy of the SWR and PAR compositions (daily mean RMSEs of 19.7 and 9.2 W m ⁻² , respectively) are significantly better than those of state-of-the-art products from CERES, ERA5, and GLASS. The accuracy of UVA and UVB measurements is comparable with CERES. Characteristics of aerosols, clouds, gases, and their impacts on SSRC are investigated before, during, and post COVID-19; in particular, significant SSRC variations due to the reduction of aerosols and increase of ozone are identified in the Chinese central and eastern areas during that period. The spatial–temporal resolution of data products [up to 0.05° (10 min) ⁻¹ for the full-disk region] is one of the most important advantages. Data for the East Asia–Pacific region during 2016–20 is available from the CARE home page ( www.slrss.cn/care/sp/pc/ ).