Howard Springs FLUXNET 2026: Savanna Carbon and Energy Flux Time Series

Howard Springs, located in the Black Jungle Conservation Reserve southeast of Darwin, provides flux tower measurements of energy and mass exchange between an open woodland savanna surface and the atmosphere. The data were processed using PyFluxPro and ONEFlux software to produce gap-filled products including Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE), Gross Primary Productivity (GPP), and Ecosystem Respiration (ER). The station, established in August 2001 and managed by The University of Western Australia and Charles Darwin University, collects measurements from a 23m mast above a canopy dominated by Eucalyptus miniata and Eucalyptus tentrodonata.

Use Cases

• Modeling Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE) dynamics based on gap-filled carbon flux data.
• Partitioning ecosystem carbon fluxes into Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) and Ecosystem Respiration (ER).
• Analyzing energy balance and evapotranspiration based on heat, water vapor, and radiation measurements.
• Studying soil-vegetation-atmosphere interactions using soil heat flux and moisture content data.
• Investigating seasonal climate effects on savanna ecology using temperature and precipitation ranges.

Strengths

• Data processed with established PyFluxPro and ONEFlux methodologies as described in referenced papers (Isaac et al., 2017; Pastorello et al., 2020).
• Site metadata includes specific environmental parameters: elevation of 64m, mean annual precipitation of 1750mm, and detailed temperature ranges.
• Long-term monitoring site established in August 2001, suggesting a multi-year time series.
• Comprehensive physical measurements include CO2, heat, water vapor, radiation, wind, rainfall, and soil parameters.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to a single savanna site in northern Australia.

Provenance

Source

Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network's Data Discovery

Collection Method

Measurements gathered via eddy covariance techniques from a 23m flux tower.

Time Range

Station established August 2001; specific data time range is not stated.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-13 14:13:44.902137; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Howard Springs flux station in the Black Jungle Conservation Reserve, southeast of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.