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An introduction to the Australian and New Zealand flux tower network - OzFlux

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posted on 2023-05-19, 13:44 authored by Beringer, J, Hutley, LB, McHugh, I, Arndt, SK, Campbell, D, Cleugh, HA, Cleverly, J, de Dios, VR, Eamus, D, Evans, B, Ewenz, C, Grace, P, Griebel, A, Haverd, V, Hinko-Najera, N, Huete, A, Isaac, P, Kanniah, K, Leuning, R, Liddell, MJ, Macfarlane, C, Meyer, W, Moore, C, Pendall, E, Phillips, A, Phillips, RL, Prober, SM, Restrepo-Coupe, N, Rutledge, S, Schroder, I, Silberstein, R, Southhall, P, Yee, MS, Tapper, NJ, Gorsel, EV, Vote, C, Walker, J, Timothy WardlawTimothy Wardlaw
OzFlux is the regional Australian and New Zealand flux tower network that aims to provide a continental-scale national research facility to monitor and assess trends, and improve predictions, of Australia’s terrestrial biosphere and climate. This paper describes the evolution, design, and current status of OzFlux as well as provides an overview of data processing. We analyse measurements from all sites within the Australian portion of the OzFlux network and two sites from New Zealand. The response of the Australian biomes to climate was largely consistent with global studies except that Australian systems had a lower ecosystem water-use efficiency. Australian semi-arid/arid ecosystems are important because of their huge extent (70 %) and they have evolved with common moisture limitations. We also found that Australian ecosystems had a similar radiation use efficiency per unit leaf area compared to global values that indicates a convergence toward a similar biochemical efficiency. The two New Zealand sites represented extremes in productivity for a moist temperate climate zone, with the grazed dairy farm site having the highest GPP of any OzFlux site (2620 gC m−2 yr−1) and the natural raised peat bog site having a very low GPP (820 gC m−2 yr−1). The paper discusses the utility of the flux data and the synergies between flux, remote sensing, and modelling. Lastly, the paper looks ahead at the future direction of the network and concludes that there has been a substantial contribution by OzFlux, and considerable opportunities remain to further advance our understanding of ecosystem response to disturbances, including drought, fire, land-use and land-cover change, land management, and climate change, which are relevant both nationally and internationally. It is suggested that a synergistic approach is required to address all of the spatial, ecological, human, and cultural challenges of managing the delicately balanced ecosystems in Australasia.

History

Publication title

Biogeosciences

Volume

13

Issue

21

Pagination

5895-5916

ISSN

1726-4170

Department/School

School of Natural Sciences

Publisher

Copernicus GmbH

Place of publication

Germany

Rights statement

Copyright 2016 the Authors. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Repository Status

  • Open

Socio-economic Objectives

Native forests

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