Beacon Farm FLUXNET Release 2026: Eddy Covariance Flux Tower Data

Two flux towers at the Beacon Farm site in Mid-Canterbury, New Zealand, measured the exchange of energy and mass between the surface and atmosphere using eddy covariance techniques. The Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network processed the data using standard micrometeorological methods and the ONEFlux software to produce a final, gap-filled product. This release includes Net Ecosystem Exchange partitioned into Gross Primary Productivity and Ecosystem Respiration.

Use Cases

• Modeling Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE) dynamics in a managed dairy farm based on gap-filled flux data.
• Partitioning carbon flux into Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) and Ecosystem Respiration (ER) for agricultural carbon accounting.
• Comparing micrometeorological conditions between an irrigated, fertilized, grazed paddock and a reference site.
• Analyzing the impact of land-use change from deer to intensive dairy farming on local carbon and energy budgets.

Strengths

• Data processed using the standardized ONEFlux software as described in Pastorello et al. (2020).
• Includes three site-years of data from two flux towers approximately 300 meters apart.
• Site metadata includes specific climate details: 900 mm annual rainfall and a mean temperature of 10.9°C.

Limitations

• Measurements at the NZ-BFm (IFR) site ceased on 15 July 2015, limiting temporal coverage.
• The last 33 days of the third year of data are completely gap-filled.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network's Data Discovery

Collection Method

Eddy covariance flux tower measurements processed with standard micrometeorological quality control and post-processing.

Time Range

Covers three site-years, with measurements ceasing on 15 July 2015.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04 13 14:13:31.553338; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Beacon Farm flux site in Mid-Canterbury, New Zealand (204 m elevation).