Ti Tree East Flux Data Collection 

This dataset consists of measurements of the exchange of energy and mass between the surface and the atmospheric boundary-layer at Pine Hill cattle station in the Northern Territory using eddy covariance techniques.
The Ti Tree East flux station is located on Pine Hill cattle station, approx. 170 km north of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. The woodland is characterized by an Acacia aneura canopy, with very isolated Corymbia sp. present. The total standing biomass in the TERN core hectare plot is 27.5 t/ha, and the median canopy height is 4.3 m (Corymbia opaca reach 12.3 m height). Elevation of the site is 553 m above sea level, and the terrain is flat. Mean annual precipitation at the nearby (45 km distant) Bureau of Meteorology station is 311-140 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 footprint of the flux tower is heterogeneous, with over 80% of the measured fluxes sourced from a small mulga woodland east of the tower and the remainder contributed by an open grassland with widely spaced Corymbia opaca to the west. The soil is characterised as a red kandosol (91:8:1 sand:silt:clay) overlying an approx. 8 m deep water table. Pine Hill Station is a functioning cattle station that has been in operation for longer than 50 years. Fluxes of heat, water vapour and carbon are measured using the open-path eddy covariance technique at 9.8 m. Supplementary measurements above the canopy include temperature and humidity (9.8 m), downwelling and upwelling shortwave and longwave radiation (9.8 m). Precipitation is monitored in a canopy gap near the tower (1.3 m). Supplementary measurements below the canopy include barometric pressure (1 m) and temperature and humidity (2 m). Below ground soil measurements are made in bare soil and include ground heat flux (0.16 m depth), soil temperature (0.02 m – 0.16 m depth) and soil moisture (0.02 – 0.16 m, 0.35 m, 0.60 m and 0.85 m depth).

For additional site information, see http://ozflux.org.au/siteOfTheMonth/2020-09Alice-and-TiTree/2020-09Alice-and-TiTree.html.
This data is also available at http://data.ozflux.org.au.
 

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 Ti Tree East 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. 

The purpose of the Ti Tree East flux station is to :

• Measure the exchange of carbon dioxide, water vapour and energy between a semi-arid mulga (Acacia sp.) ecosystem and the atmosphere
• Compare water use efficiency, GPP and ecosystem respiration between adjacent semi-arid ecosystems
• Compare hydrological and ecophysiological responses to rainfall variability and heat stress between adjacent semi-arid ecosystems
• Utilise the observations for parameterising and validating remote sensing data and land-surface models over semi-arid ecosystems

 

All flux raw data is subject to the quality control process PyFluxPro QA/QC to generate data from L1 to L6. Levels 3 to 6 are available for re-use. Datasets contain Quality Controls flags which will indicate when data quality is poor and has been filled from alternative sources. For more details, refer to Isaac et al. (2017) in the Publications section.