Alice Springs Mulga Flux Data Release 2025_v1 

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 (v3.4.17) 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 Alice Springs Mulga flux station is located on Pine Hill cattle station, approx. 170 km north of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. The woodland is characterised by a mixed Acacia aneura and Acacia aptaneura 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. Fluxes of heat, water vapour and carbon are measured using the open-path eddy covariance technique at 11.6 m. Supplementary measurements above the canopy include temperature and humidity (11.6 m), downwelling and upwelling shortwave and longwave radiation (12.2 m). Precipitation is monitored in a canopy gap near the tower (2 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, mulga, and understory habitats and include ground heat flux (0.08 m), soil temperature (0.02 m – 0.06 m) and soil moisture (0 – 0.1 m, 0.1 – 0.3 m, 0.6 – 0.8 m and 1.0 – 1.2 m). 

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. 

The purpose of the Alice Springs Mulga 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
• Study hydrological and ecophysiological responses to rainfall variability and heat stress
• Determine the evapotranspirative cost of carbon uptake
• Study the partitioning of ecosystem metabolism between the mulga canopy, a seasonal mixed understory (C₃ and C₄, grass and shrub) and soil components
• 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 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).