Flux Tower Measurements from Daintree Rainforest 2008 Onwards

A collection of flux tower measurements of energy and mass exchange between the surface and atmosphere using eddy covariance techniques. The data were processed with PyFluxPro to produce gap-filled products including Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE), Gross Primary Productivity (GPP), and Ecosystem Respiration (ER). The station, established in December 2008 in a complex mesophyll vine forest, is part of the FNQ Rainforest SuperSite.

Use Cases

• Analyze Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE) patterns in relation to temperature and humidity measurements to study carbon dynamics in a tropical rainforest.
• Partition NEE into Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) and Ecosystem Respiration (ER) to model ecosystem carbon balance over time.
• Investigate the impact of rainfall and incoming shortwave radiation on fluxes of heat, water vapor, and carbon dioxide.
• Study artifacts in downwelling radiation data caused by shadowing of radiometric equipment relative to solar inclination.

Strengths

• Data collection began in December 2008, providing a long-term record of ecosystem fluxes.
• The site is in a complex mesophyll vine forest with 94 species in a core 1 Ha area and an average tree height of 22 m.
• Measurements include fluxes of heat, water vapor, and CO2, supplemented by temperature, humidity, wind, rainfall, and radiation data.
• Data were processed using the established PyFluxPro (v3.4.18) software to produce a final, gap-filled product.

Limitations

• The early years (2009-2012) had several data gaps, reducing temporal continuity.
• Shadowing of radiometric equipment causes artifacts, visible as reductions in downwelling radiation with solar inclination.
• The specific number of data rows, columns, and file size is unknown.

Provenance

Source

Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network's Data Discovery, managed by James Cook University.

Collection Method

Flux tower measurements using the open-path eddy covariance technique, processed with PyFluxPro software.

Time Range

From December 2008 onwards, with noted gaps in 2009-2012.

Freshness

Data was last updated on March 20, 2026.

Geography

Cow Bay flux station in the Daintree Rainforest, Queensland, Australia. Site elevation is 90 m, mean annual precipitation is 3935 mm.