GIS layers of seafloor characteristics in the Azores region (North Atlantic), links to files in ArcGIS format

Inventory of some important datasets related to the physical characteristics of the seafloor surrounding the Azores Archipelago. The objective is to ensure that our compilation is readily available for any researchers interested in this type information but also to support institutions responsible for the management and conservation of local resources.

Multi-year weather data in the remote semi-arid to arid mountain region of the Saharan flank of the Atlas Mountains

In 2001, a weather and climate monitoring network was established along the temperature and aridity gradient between the sub-humid Moroccan High Atlas Mountains and the former end lake of the Middle Drâa in a pre-Saharan environment. The highest Automated Weather Stations (AWS) was installed just below the M'Goun summit at 3850 m, the lowest station Lac Iriki was at 450 m. This network of 13 AWS stations was funded and maintained by the German IMPETUS (BMBF Grant 01LW06001A, North Rhine-Westphalia Grant 313-21200200) project and since 2011 five stations were further maintained by the GERMAN DFG Fennec project (FI 786/3-1), this way some stations of the AWS network provided data for almost 12 years from 2001-2012. Standard meteorological variables such as temperature, humidity, and wind were measured at an altitude of 2 m above ground. Other meteorological variables comprise precipitation, station pressure, solar irradiance, soil temperature at different depths and for high mountain station snow water equivalent. The stations produced data summaries for 5-minute-precipitation-data, 10- or 15-minute-data and a daily summary of all other variables. This network is a unique resource of multi-year weather data in the remote semi-arid to arid mountain region of the Saharan flank of the Atlas Mountains. The network is described in Schulz et al. (2010) and its further continuation until 2012 is briefly discussed in Redl et al. (2015, doi:10.1175/MWR-D-15-0223.1) and Redl et al. (2016, doi:10.1002/2015JD024443).

Inventory of thermo-erosional valleys and streams in three ice-rich permafrost lowlands adjacent to the Laptev Sea, with links to maps in ArcGIS format

This dataset provides an inventory of thermo-erosional landforms and streams in three lowland areas underlain by ice-rich permafrost of the Yedoma-type Ice Complex at the Siberian Laptev Sea coast. It consists of two shapefiles per study region: one shapefile for the digitized thermo-erosional landforms and streams, one for the study area extent. Thermo-erosional landforms were manually digitized from topographic maps and satellite data as line features and subsequently analyzed in a Geographic Information System (GIS) using ArcGIS 10.0. The mapping included in particular thermo-erosional gullies and valleys as well as streams and rivers, since development of all of these features potentially involved thermo-erosional processes. For the Cape Mamontov Klyk site, data from Grosse et al. [2006], which had been digitized from 1:100000 topographic map sheets, were clipped to the Ice Complex extent of Cape Mamontov Klyk, which excludes the hill range in the southwest with outcropping bedrock and rocky slope debris, coastal barrens, and a large sandy floodplain area in the southeast. The mapped features (streams, intermittent streams) were then visually compared with panchromatic Landsat-7 ETM+ satellite data (4 August 2000, 15 m spatial resolution) and panchromatic Hexagon data (14 July 1975, 10 m spatial resolution). Smaller valleys and gullies not captured in the maps were subsequently digitized from the satellite data. The criterion for the mapping of linear features as thermo-erosional valleys and gullies was their clear incision into the surface with visible slopes. Thermo-erosional features of the Lena Delta site were mapped on the basis of a Landsat-7 ETM+ image mosaic (2000 and 2001, 30 m ground resolution) [Schneider et al., 2009] and a Hexagon satellite image mosaic (1975, 10 m ground resolution) [G. Grosse, unpublished data] of the Lena River Delta within the extent of the Lena Delta Ice Complex [Morgenstern et al., 2011]. For the Buor Khaya Peninsula, data from Arcos [2012], which had been digitized based on RapidEye satellite data (8 August 2010, 6.5 m ground resolution), were completed for smaller thermo-erosional features using the same RapidEye scene as a mapping basis. The spatial resolution, acquisition date, time of the day, and viewing geometry of the satellite data used may have influenced the identification of thermo-erosional landforms in the images. For Cape Mamontov Klyk and the Lena Delta, thermo-erosional features were digitized using both Hexagon and Landsat data; Hexagon provided higher resolution and Landsat provided the modern extent of features. Allowance of up to decameters was made for the lateral expansion of features between Hexagon and Landsat acquisitions (between 1975 and 2000).

The Lena River Delta - Land cover classification of tundra environments based on Landsat 7 ETM+ data and its application for upscaling of methane emissions

The Lena River Delta, situated in Northern Siberia (72.0 - 73.8° N, 122.0 - 129.5° E), is the largest Arctic delta and covers 29,000 km**2. Since natural deltas are characterised by complex geomorphological patterns and various types of ecosystems, high spatial resolution information on the distribution and extent of the delta environments is necessary for a spatial assessment and accurate quantification of biogeochemical processes as drivers for the emission of greenhouse gases from tundra soils. In this study, the first land cover classification for the entire Lena Delta based on Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) images was conducted and used for the quantification of methane emissions from the delta ecosystems on the regional scale. The applied supervised minimum distance classification was very effective with the few ancillary data that were available for training site selection. Nine land cover classes of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in the wetland dominated (72%) Lena Delta could be defined by this classification approach. The mean daily methane emission of the entire Lena Delta was calculated with 10.35 mg CH4/m**2/d. Taking our multi-scale approach into account we find that the methane source strength of certain tundra wetland types is lower than calculated previously on coarser scales.

A compilation of global bio-optical in situ data for ocean-colour satellite applications

A compiled set of in situ data is important to evaluate the quality of ocean-colour satellite-data records. Here we describe the data compiled for the validation of the ocean-colour products from the ESA Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative (OC-CCI). The data were acquired from several sources (MOBY, BOUSSOLE, AERONET-OC, SeaBASS, NOMAD, MERMAID, AMT, ICES, HOT, GeP&CO), span between 1997 and 2012, and have a global distribution. Observations of the following variables were compiled: spectral remote-sensing reflectances, concentrations of chlorophyll a, spectral inherent optical properties and spectral diffuse attenuation coefficients. The data were from multi-project archives acquired via the open internet services or from individual projects, acquired directly from data providers. Methodologies were implemented for homogenisation, quality control and merging of all data. No changes were made to the original data, other than averaging of observations that were close in time and space, elimination of some points after quality control and conversion to a standard format. The final result is a merged table designed for validation of satellite-derived ocean-colour products and available in text format. Metadata of each in situ measurement (original source, cruise or experiment, principal investigator) were preserved throughout the work and made available in the final table. Using all the data in a validation exercise increases the number of matchups and enhances the representativeness of different marine regimes. By making available the metadata, it is also possible to analyse each set of data separately.

PanTool - software for data harmonization and conversion, Version 1

The program PanTool was developed as a tool box like a Swiss Army Knife for data conversion and recalculation, written to harmonize individual data collections to standard import format used by PANGAEA. The format of input files the program PanTool needs is a tabular saved in plain ASCII. The user can create this files with a spread sheet program like MS-Excel or with the system text editor. PanTool is distributed as freeware for the operating systems Microsoft Windows, Apple OS X and Linux.

Projections for Land Use Change in Brazil:2000-2050, links to files in ArcGIS shapefile format

This data set contains the inputs and the results of the REDD+ Policy Assessment Centre project (REDD-PAC) project (http://www.redd-pac.org), developed by a consortium of research institutes (IIASA, INPE, IPEA, UNEP-WCMC), supported by Germany's International Climate Initiative. Taking a new land use map of Brazil for 2000 as input, the research team used the global economic model GLOBIOM to project land use changes in Brazil up to 2050. Model projections show that Brazil has the potential to balance its goals of protecting the environment and becoming a major global producer of food and biofuels. The model results were taken into account by Brazilian decision-makers when developing the country's intended nationally determined contribution (INDC).