Alice Springs Mulga Flux Data: Energy and Mass Exchange in a Semi-Arid Woodland

The Alice Springs Mulga flux station, located approximately 170 km north of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, provides measurements of energy and mass exchange between the surface and atmosphere in a semi-arid Mulga woodland. Data includes fluxes of heat, water vapor, and carbon measured via eddy covariance at 11.6 m, along with supplementary above- and below-canopy radiation, temperature, humidity, precipitation, and multi-depth soil measurements. This dataset is released by the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) and was last updated in June 2026.

Use Cases

• Modeling carbon sequestration dynamics based on measured carbon flux data.
• Analyzing water vapor exchange and evapotranspiration patterns in semi-arid woodlands.
• Studying energy balance and heat flux interactions between the land surface and atmosphere.
• Investigating soil moisture and temperature profiles across different habitats (bare soil, mulga, understory).
• Correlating precipitation variability with ecosystem gas exchange, given the recorded annual rainfall range from 33 mm to 712 mm.

Strengths

• Includes detailed site characterization: total standing biomass of 32.5 t/ha, median canopy height of 4.3 m, and soil composition (74:11:15 sand:silt:clay).
• Provides multi-layer environmental measurements: fluxes above canopy, precipitation, and soil data at depths from 0.02 m to 1.2 m.
• Covers a notable precipitation range, from 33 mm to 712 mm per hydrological year, since the tower became operational.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale modeling.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to a single flux station location in central Australia.

Provenance

Source

Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) Ecosystem Processes, via the OzFlux network.

Collection Method

Measurements collected using the open-path eddy covariance technique and supplementary meteorological and soil sensors.

Time Range

Operational since at least 2016/2017, with data spanning to 2025_v2.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-19 11:12:11.873807; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Pine Hill cattle station, Northern Territory, Australia (602 m elevation, flat terrain).