This release consists of flux tower measurements of the exchange of energy and mass between the surface and the atmospheric boundary-layer using eddy covariance techniques. Data were processed using PyFluxPro (v3.4.7) as described by Isaac et al. (2017). PyFluxPro produces a final, gap-filled product with Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE) partitioned into Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) and Ecosystem Respiration (ER).
The flux station site is located within an area of dryland agriculture. The surrounding area is dominated by broadacre farming practices. The vegetation cover is predominantly pasture. Elevation of the site is close to 152 m and mean annual precipitation at a nearby Bureau of Meteorology site measures 650 mm. Maximum temperatures range from 12.3 °C (in July) to 29.7 °C (in February), while minimum temperatures range from 10.4 °C (in July) to 26.8 °C (in February).
The instrument mast is 4 m tall. Heat, water vapour and carbon dioxide measurements are taken using the open-path eddy flux technique. Temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, rainfall and net radiation are measured. Soil heat fluxes are measured and soil moisture content is gathered using time domain reflectometry.
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.
Riggs Creek Flux Station was part of a larger program, 'The Carbon Project', and was managed by the University of Western Australia. The work was funded through an ARC Linkage grant, in conjunction with generous contributions from the Victorian Department of Sustainability, Catchment Management Authorities, EPA Victoria and Kilter Pty Ltd. The flux station was part of the Australia OzFlux Network and the international FLUXNET Network.
Purpose
The purpose of the Riggs Creek Flux Station was to:
- monitor and determine the balance of environmental demands for water yields, agricultural productivity, carbon storage and biodiversity within a catchment landscape
- provide information for other projects (i.e. The Carbon Project) which seeks to establish a modelling tool for carbon and water fluxes across various land use types, in order to benefit land management practices in the Goulburn-Broken catchment region.
Data Processing
File naming convention
The NetCDF files follow the naming convention below:
SiteName_ProcessingLevel_FromDate_ToDate_Type.nc
- SiteName: short name of the site
- ProcessingLevel: file processing level (L3, L4, L5, L6)
- FromDate: temporal interval (start), YYYYMMDD
- ToDate: temporal interval (end), YYYYMMDD
- Type (Level 6 only): Summary, Monthly, Daily, Cumulative, Annual
- Summary: This file is a summary of the L6 data for daily, monthly, annual and cumulative data. The files Monthly to Annual below are combined together in one file.
- Monthly: This file shows L6 monthly averages of the respective variables, e.g. AH, Fc, NEE, etc.
- Daily: same as Monthly but with daily averages.
- Cumulative: File showing cumulative values for ecosystem respiration, evapo-transpiration, gross primary productivity, net ecosystem exchange and production as well as precipitation.
- Annual: same as Monthly but with annual averages.
Lineage
All flux raw data is subject to the quality control process OzFlux 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).