The research project entitled

"Generation of global climate data records and their use for monitoring the key variables and processes of climate change

" was recently funded by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology under the Global Changes and Responses Program.This project focuses on the essential climate variables proposed by the global climate observing system.It aims to improve surface-air-space observing systems;produce long-term

highly accurate

and highly spatiotemporal consistent satellite products（i.e.

climate data records

CDRs） of the atmosphere

ocean

and land surfaces;and monitor the key variables and processes of climate change dynamically.This project will produce the first CDR suite in China.This research project is divided into four.The first three sub-projects focus on the satellite product generation of the atmosphere

ocean

and land surfaces.Each of these three sub-project includes ground observation

inversion and fusion methods of remote sensing data

and production and application demonstration of climate dataset.Ground observation is mainly used for algorithm development

product validation

and application demonstration.Sub-project 4 will comprehensively assess these satellite products and use them for climate change studies.Sub-project 1 on the atmosphere will mainly focus on the variables that are essential for climate change studies

such as aerosol optical thickness

cloudiness

precipitation

CO

2

ozone

solar incident radiation

reflected solar radiation

outgoing long wave radiation

and energy imbalance.Nine CDRs will be generated at the end.The application demonstration will be based on the long-term atmospheric climate dataset;it will be combined with foreign satellite-related products to study the global climate effects of aerosol

dynamic monitoring of polar ozone concentrations

energy balance of the Earth

and other applications.Sub-project 2 on the ocean will mainly focus on methods and techniques for producing a total of 21 products

including the balance components of ocean energy（i.e.

shortwave incident solar radiation

shortwave broadband albedo

longwave downward radiation

emissivity

and net radiation）

dynamic environmental parameters and processes of the ocean（i.e.

sea surface wind

ocean wave

surface flow

sea surface temperature

sea surface salinity

sea surface temperature

and oceanic ice color（reflectance

chlorophyll concentration

particulate organic carbon

and primary productivity））

and sea ice（i.e.

concentration

thickness

and drift）.At the end

17 of these will be generated as ocean CDRs.Their applications to the global ocean matter and energy transport will be demonstrated based on the global ocean climate data set for the major estuarine water changes of the world in response to global climate change.Sub-project 3 for land surfaces will mainly focus on 20 variables that characterize the key processes of climate change

including the global energy balance of land surfaces（i.e.

shortwave incident radiation

shortwave broadband albedo

longwave downward radiation

land surface emissivity

land surface temperature

and net radiation）

water cycle（i.e.

evapotranspiration

water surface dynamics

and wetland）

carbon cycle（i.e.

leaf area index

fractional photo synthetically active radiation absorbed by green vegetation

vegetation coverage

forest biomass

gross primary productivity

net primary productivity

residential area

land cover

and fire burned area）

and polar and cryosphere（i.e.

elevation and area of ice surfaces

snow cover

snow water equivalent

and freezing and thawing of permafrost）.At the end

15 of these products will be generated as land CDRs.The application demonstration component will include assimilating these data products into land surface process models;analyzing the effect of these products on the diagnostic ability of temporal and spatial characteristics of climate change;and quantifying the scientific values of these products in characterizing regional carbon cycle

water cycle

and energy balance.The atmospheric

oceanic

and terrestrial CDRs will be analyzed in Sub-project 4 by using the key process of global change as the constraint.They will be tested based on their spatiotemporal and logical consistency.Basic global change indicators will be proposed based on the entire process of acquisition and analysis of information data of global change.We will also determine the states and trends of the key processes

evaluate their causes and effects comprehensively

and investigate direct evidence of the roles played by key processes and elements in global climate change.