A dataset of carbon dioxide flux observation of the Miscanthus sacchariflorus ecosystem of Dongting Lake Wetland from 2014 to 2016

With considerable carbon sequestration potential, lakes are active channels of terrestrial carbon cycle. As the second largest freshwater lake in China, Dongting Lake has huge annual water level fluctuations (12–14 m), and the unique hydrological situation is a major challenge and of significance to the study of the carbon and water cycle processes at Dongting Lake, the control mechanism and its response to environmental changes. Miscanthus sacchariflorus is widely distributed at Dongting Lake and is a perennial tall bamboo-like herb with well-developed rhizomes and high carbon sequestration potential. Targeting the Miscanthus sacchariflorus ecosystem of Dongting Lake as the research object, we used the eddy-correlation (EC) system in the study to conduct long-term localized observations of carbon fluxes in the Miscanthus sacchariflorus ecosystem. As the first Dongting Lake ecosystem research station in China, National Field Scientific Observation and Research Station of Dongting Lake Wetland Ecosystem in Hunan Province (Dongting Lake National Station) collated the fluxes and conventional meteorological data of the Dongting Lake Miscanthus sacchariflorus ecosystem from June 2014 to December 2016 based on the data processing system of the China Flux Observation and Research Network (ChinaFLUX). The dataset includes the data files of net ecosystem carbon exchange, ecosystem respiration, ecosystem carbon exchange, latent heat flux, sensible heat flux, air temperature, relative air humidity, water vapor pressure, net radiation, and soil temperature at half-hourly, daily, monthly, and yearly scales. It can provide a strong data base for scientific understanding of the spatial and temporal dynamics of carbon, water and heat in the Miscanthus sacchariflorus ecosystem, material and energy cycles, estimation of global carbon sequestration potential, as well as response and adaptation to global climate change.