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Data

Digital Hemispherical Photography (DHP) from TERN Alice Mulga SuperSite 

Ver: 1.0
Status of Data: onGoing
Update Frequency: biannually
Security Classification: unclassified
Record Last Modified: 2026-04-01
Viewed 10 times
Accessed 2 times
Dataset Created: 2025-09-28
Dataset Published: 2026-01-16
Data can be accessed from the following links:
HTTPPoint-of-truth metadata URLHTTPTERN EcoImages REST APIHTTPTERN EcoImages PortalHTTPro-crate-metadata.json
How to cite this collection:
Griebel, A., Lieff, N. & Russell, B. (2026). Digital Hemispherical Photography (DHP) from TERN Alice Mulga SuperSite. Version 1.0. Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network. Dataset. https://portal.tern.org.au/metadata/7a212838-0aa4-45c5-89c9-d179770a6f70 
Digital Hemispherical Photography (DHP) upward-looking images to capture vegetation and crown cover are collected two times per year in a 20 m grid within the core hectare plot at the Alice Mulga SuperSite. These images are used to estimate Leaf Area Index (LAI). The Alice Springs Mulga flux station is located on Pine Hill cattle station, approx. 170km north of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. The woodland is characterised by a mixed Acacia aneura and Acacia aptanura canopy, with a total standing biomass of 32.5 t/ha and median canopy height of 4.3 m (tallest trees reach 8.9 m height). Elevation of the site is 602 m above sea level, and the terrain is flat. Mean annual precipitation at the nearby (45 km distant) Bureau of Meteorology station is 311 mm - 140 mm (1986-2025), but has ranged between 33 mm in the hydrological years of 2018/2019 to 712 mm in 2016/2017 since the tower is operational. Predominant wind directions are from the southeast and east. The extent of the woodland is 11 km to the east of the flux station and 16 km to the south. The soil is characterised as a red kandosol (74:11:15 sand:silt:clay) overlying an approx. 50 m deep water table. Pine Hill Station is a functioning cattle station that has been in operation for longer than 50 years. For additional site information, see Alice Mulga Supersite. Other images collected at the site include photopoints, phenocam time-lapse images taken from fixed under and overstorey cameras and ancillary images of fauna and flora. 
Credit
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 Alice Springs Mulga flux station is managed by the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and is funded by the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN), an Australian Government National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) project. The site was managed by UTS from 2012-2019, James Cook University from 2019-2023, and UTS from 2024 onwards. We acknowledge contributions from Jamie Cleverly, Ralph Faux and Derek Eamus, who established and managed the site prior to 2024. 
Purpose
Data not provided. 
Lineage
Data not provided. 
Method DocumentationData not provided.
Procedure Steps

1. 

SuperSites Vegetation Monitoring Protocol:  

Spatial Description
Located at Pine Hill Cattle Station, North of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. 
Temporal Coverage
From 2025-09-28 to on going 
Spatial Resolution

Data not provided.

Vertical Extent

Data not provided.

ANZSRC - FOR
Environmental management
Forest biodiversity
GCMD Sciences
BIOSPHERE - CANOPY CHARACTERISTICS
BIOSPHERE - VEGETATION COVER
Horizontal Resolution
1 meter - < 30 meters
Parameters
RGB values
Platforms
Alice Springs Mulga
Temporal Resolution
irregular
Topic
environment
User Defined
alic
Digital Hemispherical Photography (DHP)
leaf area index
TERN Ecosystem Processes
Author
Griebel, Anne
Co-Author
Lieff, Nicola
Russell, Benjamin
Contact Point
Griebel, Anne
Publisher
Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network
Alice Mulga SuperSite
Karan, M. (2020). SuperSites Vegetation Monitoring Protocols v 1.21. TERN Australian SuperSite Network. Cairns, Australia. doi:10.4227/05/56134C1310F16
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