Lake CO₂ emission data in China

We compiled a comprehensive nationwide dataset of lake CO₂ fluxes across China, including lakes, reservoirs, and ponds. The dataset integrated both daily and monthly measurements of lake FCO₂ from previous literatures. A total of 1,542 records from 232 lakes across China were collected, providing broad spatial coverage. By combining these FCO₂ measurements with watershed-scale environmental and socio-economic variables, we developed a random forest model to estimate lake FCO₂ at daily scale. We subsequently integrated temporal lake area data with modeled FCO₂ to explore how changes in lake area could alter carbon budgets and assess national-scale responses of FCO₂ to climate extremes.