ChinaWheatPhen500m: a 500 m annual winter wheat phenology dataset from 2014 to 2024 in China based on crop reference curves

The crop phenology product is of great value for agricultural production management, food security and yield assessment, and the advancement of smart agriculture. Traditional remote sensing approaches can typically only extract coarse phenology products such as the start of season (SOS) and end of season (EOS). More importantly, current phenological products merely characterize phenological dynamics from the perspective of remote sensing signal variation, without incorporating the actual phenological knowledge and agronomic significance behind crop growth processes. Hence, we generated a winter wheat phenology dataset for China with a spatial resolution of 500 m (ChinaWheatPhen500m), including eight key phenological stages with agronomic significance (green-up, rising, jointing, booting, heading, flowering, milky ripe, and maturity), covering the period from 2014 to 2024. This dataset provides valuable support for winter wheat field management, yield estimation, and research on phenological responses to environmental changes.