Daily measurements of air temperatures (minimum, maximum and average) at 2 m height, relative humidity, wind speed at 10 m height, and sunshine duration obtained from the National Climatic Centre (NCC) for 602 ground-based stations in China during the period 1961–2011, provided by the National Meteorological Information Centre of China (NMIC) of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), are used for estimating ET0 by Penman-Montieth method. Wherein, wind speed was adjusted to 2 m height by virtue of wind profile relationship proposed by Allen et al.62. Net radiation at 51 stations was available. Moreover, precipitation data from these meteorological stations were also collected.