NACP Site Synthesis: Tower Meteorology, Carbon Flux, and Ancillary Data

Forty-seven eddy covariance flux tower sites across North America provide meteorological, carbon cycle flux, phenology, and ancillary data. The dataset includes gap-filled meteorology, measured net ecosystem exchange with derived productivity and respiration, and remotely sensed vegetation indices. It was compiled for the North American Carbon Program Site-Level Synthesis to drive and assess 24 Terrestrial Biosphere Models.

Use Cases

• Driving terrestrial biosphere models with gap-filled meteorological data like air temperature and CO2 concentration.
• Assessing model performance by comparing simulated carbon processes against observed net ecosystem exchange and derived gross primary productivity.
• Analyzing vegetation phenology trends using remotely sensed NDVI, LAI, and fPAR data derived for each tower site.
• Incorporating site-specific ancillary data on tower location, disturbance history, and soil attributes into ecological studies.

Strengths

• Data originates from 47 distinct measurement sites, providing spatial coverage across North America.
• Includes calculated uncertainty estimates for carbon fluxes, covering turbulence, gap-filling, and partitioning errors.
• Used to assess 24 different Terrestrial Biosphere Models, indicating a benchmark standard.

Limitations

• Conflicting last-updated dates: one source lists 2026-04-10 (likely a placeholder or error), while another lists 2007-12-31, creating uncertainty about data freshness.
• Specific column names and exact row counts are not provided in the available metadata.
• The license is listed only as 'other-license-specified' without further detail.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), North American Carbon Program (NACP) Modeling and Synthesis Thematic

Collection Method

Measured at eddy covariance flux tower sites, with gap-filled data following a standard protocol. Phenology data derived from the GIMMS version g NDVI dataset.

Freshness

2007-12-31

Geography

North America