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Data

TERN Ecosystem Surveillance: Land Surface 

Ver: 2.0
Status of Data: onGoing
Update Frequency: asNeeded
Security Classification: unclassified
Record Last Modified: 2025-12-02
Viewed 316 times
Accessed 35 times
Dataset Created: 2010-10-30
Dataset Published: 2025-06-16
Data can be accessed from the following links:
HTTPPoint-of-truth metadata URLHTTPTERN EcoPlots APIHTTPTERN EcoPlots PortalHTTPro-crate-metadata.json
How to cite this collection:
Sparrow, B., Tokmakoff, A., Leitch, E., Guerin, G., O'Neill, S., Macdonald, C., Lowe, A., Flitton, R., Saleeba, T., Coish, C., Starkey, M., Irvine, K., Francis, N., Potter, T., Pink, L., Finn, L., Martin-Fores, I. & TERN Ecosystem Surveillance (2025). TERN Ecosystem Surveillance: Land Surface. Version 2.0. Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network. Dataset. https://portal.tern.org.au/metadata/bb91c732-873b-457f-9d81-aa671e3fda12 
This dataset lists land surface characteristics observed in Rangeland sites across Australia by the TERN Ecosystem Surveillance team, using standardised AusPlots methodologies. Land surface observations are collected at each site as part of the AusPlots method. At each site, observations on ground cover, lithology, erosion (state, extent, and human accelerated), surface drainage, microrelief, aspect and angle are recorded as part of the Ausplots Ground cover and Plot description methods. 
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. Datasets funded by TERN include the following statement “This work was jointly funded by the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN), an Australian Government National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) project. 
Purpose
Land surface observations provide accurate information about land surface parameters useful to benchmark remote sensing products.  
Lineage
Data not provided. 
Method DocumentationAusPlots Rangelands Survey Protocols ManualAusplots Rangelands Survey Protocols Manual
Procedure Steps

1. 

AusPlots Rangelands Protocols - Land surface:  

Australia's major biomes
Temporal Coverage
From 2010-10-30 to on going 
Spatial Resolution

Data not provided.

Vertical Extent

Data not provided.

ANZSRC - FOR
Forest biodiversity
GCMD Sciences
BIOSPHERE - VEGETATION COVER
LAND SURFACE - DEGRADATION
LAND SURFACE - EROSION
LAND SURFACE - LAND USE/LAND COVER
Horizontal Resolution
30 meters - < 100 meters
Parameters
accelerated erosion
aspect angle
bare ground cover
coarse woody debris cover
cryptogam ground cover
disturbance (event)
gravel ground cover
green ground cover
ground cover
litter ground cover
microrelief
outcrop ground cover
outcrop lithology
rock ground cover
slope angle
soil drainage type
state of erosion
subdominant substrate lithology
surface strew lithology
surface strew size
wind erosion extent
Temporal Resolution
Decadal
Topic
environment
User Defined
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance
Author
Sparrow, Ben
Co-Author
Tokmakoff, Andrew
Leitch, Emrys
Guerin, Greg
O'Neill, Sally
Macdonald, Christina
Lowe, Andy
Flitton, Rick
Saleeba, Tom
Coish, Caleb
Starkey, Michael
Irvine, Katie
Francis, Nikki
Potter, Tamara
Pink, Lachlan
Finn, Luke
Martin-Fores, Irene
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance
Contact Point
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance
Steen, Carly
Lewis, Donna
Publisher
Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network
AusPlots Rangelands Survey Protocols ManualAusplots Rangelands Survey Protocols Manual
By Parent record
TERN Ecosystem Surveillance Monitoring
Export to DCATExport to BibTeXExport to EndNote/Zotero
Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network
80 Meiers Road, Indooroopilly, Queensland, 4068, Australia.
Contact Us
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Attribution and citation is required in any publication that uses AusPlots data. We ask you to send citations and copies of publications arising from work that use these data to ben.sparrow@adelaide.edu.au, copy esupport@tern.org.au or advise via the online form at https://www.tern.org.au/research-publications/#reporting These data have been released in the spirit of open scientific collaboration. Data users are encouraged to consider consultation with ben.sparrow@adelaide.edu.au to minimize duplication of research. 
TERN services are provided on an “as-is” and “as available” basis. Users use any TERN services at their discretion and risk. They will be solely responsible for any damage or loss whatsoever that results from such use including use of any data obtained through TERN and any analysis performed using the TERN infrastructure. Web links to and from external, third party websites should not be construed as implying any relationships with and/or endorsement of the external site or its content by TERN.