Great Western Woodlands Phenocam Images and Phenology Data Collection 

Fixed cameras installed at the Great Western Woodlands SuperSite provide a time series of fine scale data as a long-term record of vegetation structure and condition. This dense time series of phenocam images provides data for analysis of ecological responses to climate variability, and when consolidated across the entire terrestrial ecosystem research network, supports calibration and validation of satellite-derived remote sensing data, ensuring delivery of higher quality results for broader scale environmental monitoring products. Images are captured half hourly during daylight hours. Images and data products, including timeseries of the Green Chromatic Coordinate (Gcc) for a region-of-interest (ROI) that delineates an area of specific vegetation type, are made available on an almost real-time basis. The Great Western Woodlands SuperSite was established in 2012 in the Credo Conservation Reserve. The site is in semi-arid woodland and was operated as a pastoral lease from 1907 to 2007. The core 1 ha plot is characterised by Eucalyptus salmonophloia (salmon gum), with Eucalyptus salubris and Eucalyptus clelandii dominating other research plots. For additional site information, see https://www.tern.org.au/tern-observatory/tern-ecosystem-processes/great-western-woodlands-supersite/. Other images collected at the site include photopoints, digital cover photography (DCP), panoramic landscape, and ancillary images of fauna and flora.  

We at TERN acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians throughout Australia, New Zealand and all nations. We honour their profound connections to land, water, biodiversity and culture and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. The Great Western Woodlands SuperSite was established in 2012 and is managed by CSIRO Land and Water. The Western Australian Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) manage the Credo Proposed Conservation Reserve and Credo site facilities, including the Field Studies Centre and accommodation on site. DBCA are collaborators on a range of projects. This work was jointly funded by the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN), an Australian Government National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) project. 

Time series of vegetation phenological observations are collected to understand ecosystems annual cycles. Phenological timeseries can be used for ground-truthing remote sensing data products, for studies of climate change impacts on terrestrial ecosystems, and as a standard for earth system models. 

For generating ROI chromatic indices the python library vegindex (0.7.2) in python is used. For calculating hazeness values the R hazer (1.1.1.) and jpeg (0.1) libraries are used.