Monitoring networks and datasets

Buildings and Settlements

Global Permanent Monitoring Networks

Global (original) reference data sets

Global compilations of data sets

Elevation and Depth

Global Permanent Monitoring Networks

Global (original) reference data sets

Global compilations of data sets

Geology and Soils

Global Permanent Monitoring Networks

Global (original) reference data sets

Global compilations of data sets

Fine Root Ecology Database: FRED (compilation)

Description: Originally a plant root database but also contains some soil laboratory data and soil observations. Fully documented in Iversen et al. (2017).

Distribution of FRED points. Image source: Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Global database of soil nematodes

Description: Raw soil nematode abundance data (6,825 samples) compiled by a large coalition of soil scientists / ecologists (Hoogen et al. 2020).

Distribution of samples with soil nematodes abundance. Image source: Hoogen et al. (2020).

Land Cover and Land Use

Global Permanent Monitoring Networks

Global Land Cover Estimation (GLanCE) training data

Description: Global Land Cover Estimation (GLanCE) project project provides almost 2M training points covering from years 1984 to 2020) (Stanimirova et al. 2023).

Distribution of GLanCE points. Image source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-023-02798-5/figures/5.

Global (original) reference data sets

Globe230k

Description: Globe230k is a benchmark dataset for Global Land Cover Mapping which includes cca 230,000 annotated images with a size of 512 Γ— 512 and a spatial resolution of 1-m (Shi et al. 2023).

Distribution of Globe230k locations. Image source: Shi et al. (2023).

Global compilations of data sets

Population Distribution

Global Permanent Monitoring Networks

Global (original) reference data sets

Global compilations of data sets

Water

Global Permanent Monitoring Networks

Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS)

Description: Collection of marine species occurrence records from original and 3rd party sources GBIF, FishBASE (Global Information System on Fishes) and similar (Moudrα»³ and Devillers 2020).

Distribution of points for a species β€˜Scomber colias’. Image source: https://obis.org/taxon/151174.

Global streamflow time series data (GRDC)

Description: Global Runoff Data Centre (GRDC) collected 35 years of monthly and daily river discharge data from cca 11,000 permanent stations (Burek and Smilovic 2023).

Distribution of GRDC points. Image source: Global Runoff Data Centre (GRDC).

Global (original) reference data sets

Global compilations of data sets

Physical Infrastructure

Global Permanent Monitoring Networks

Global (original) reference data sets

Global compilations of data sets

Climate

Global Permanent Monitoring Networks

NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day (GSOD)

Description: Contains daily data from over 9000 stations (data from 1973 to the present) on Mean temperature (.1 Fahrenheit) Mean dew point (.1 Fahrenheit) Mean sea level pressure (.1 mb) Mean station pressure (.1 mb) Mean visibility (.1 miles) Mean wind speed (.1 knots) Maximum sustained wind speed (.1 knots) Maximum wind gust (.1 knots) Maximum temperature (.1 Fahrenheit) Minimum temperature (.1 Fahrenheit) Precipitation amount (.01 inches) Snow depth (.1 inches) Indicator for occurrence of: Fog, Rain or Drizzle, Snow or Ice Pellets, Hail, Thunder and similar.

Distribution of GSOD points. Image source: NOAA.

Climate TRACE

Description: Climate TRACE provides an inventory of major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions around the world and provides independently produced estimates of how much each emits (points and polygons) (Whitmee, Anton, and Haines 2023).

Distribution of Climate TRACE points. Image source: The Climate TRACE coalition.

Biodiversity and Nature Conservation

Global Permanent Monitoring Networks

Global (original) reference data sets

Global compilations of data sets

Burek, Peter, and Mikhail Smilovic. 2023. β€œThe Use of GRDC Gauging Stations for Calibrating Large-Scale Hydrological Models.” Earth System Science Data 15 (12): 5617–29. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5617-2023.
Hoogen, Johan van den, Stefan Geisen, Diana H Wall, David A Wardle, Walter Traunspurger, Ron GM de Goede, Byron J Adams, et al. 2020. β€œA Global Database of Soil Nematode Abundance and Functional Group Composition.” Scientific Data 7 (1): 103. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-020-0437-3.
Iversen, Colleen M, M Luke McCormack, A Shafer Powell, Christopher B Blackwood, GrΓ©goire T Freschet, Jens Kattge, Catherine Roumet, et al. 2017. β€œA Global Fine-Root Ecology Database to Address Below-Ground Challenges in Plant Ecology.” New Phytologist 215 (1): 15–26. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.14486.
Moudrα»³, Vı́tΔ›zslav, and Rodolphe Devillers. 2020. β€œQuality and Usability Challenges of Global Marine Biodiversity Databases: An Example for Marine Mammal Data.” Ecological Informatics 56: 101051. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2020.101051.
Shi, Qian, Da He, Zhengyu Liu, Xiaoping Liu, and Jingqian Xue. 2023. β€œGlobe230k: A Benchmark Dense-Pixel Annotation Dataset for Global Land Cover Mapping.” Journal of Remote Sensing 3: 0078. https://doi.org/10.34133/remotesensing.0078.
Stanimirova, Radost, Katelyn Tarrio, Konrad Turlej, Kristina McAvoy, Sophia Stonebrook, Kai-Ting Hu, Paulo ArΓ©valo, et al. 2023. β€œA Global Land Cover Training Dataset from 1984 to 2020.” Scientific Data 10 (1): 879. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02798-5.
Whitmee, Sarah, Blanca Anton, and Andy Haines. 2023. β€œAccountability for Carbon Emissions and Health Equity.” Bulletin of the World Health Organization 101 (2): 83. https://doi.org/10.2471/BLT.22.289452.