Eddy Covariance Flux Measurements from Otway Pasture Site

Encompassing measurements of energy and mass exchange between the surface and atmosphere at a pasture site in Nirranda South, Victoria, Australia, using eddy covariance techniques. The station was established in February 2007 on a 10m tower and managed by CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research. It includes fluxes of heat, water vapor, and carbon dioxide, with supplementary measurements of temperature, humidity, rainfall, solar radiation, and soil parameters.

Use Cases

• Analyze carbon dioxide flux dynamics in a grazed dairy pasture ecosystem to study carbon sequestration.
• Model the relationship between photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and net radiation with heat and water vapor fluxes.
• Investigate seasonal patterns in mean daily temperature, which ranges from 12°C to 25°C, and its correlation with soil temperature and heat flux.
• Assess the impact of annual average rainfall (around 800mm) on pasture water vapor flux and energy balance.

Strengths

• Data collection began in February 2007, providing a multi-year time series for temporal analysis.
• Measurements include multiple flux types (heat, water vapor, carbon dioxide) and supplementary meteorological variables.
• Site-specific environmental context is provided, including average grass height (0.1m) and managed grazing conditions.

Limitations

• The dataset's row count, column structure, and sample data are unavailable, hindering assessment of its volume and granularity.
• Data is provided in HTML and PNG formats, which are not standard for quantitative analysis and may require significant extraction effort.
• The license is unspecified, creating potential uncertainty for commercial or redistribution use cases.

Provenance

Source

Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network's Data Discovery, with data also available at https://data.tern.org.au.

Collection Method

Data gathered using the open-path eddy covariance technique from instruments on a 10m tower, with supplementary meteorological and soil measurements.

Time Range

Data collection began in February 2007; the end date is not specified.

Freshness

The metadata was last updated on March 20, 2026, indicating recent maintenance, but the actual data's temporal endpoint is unknown.

Geography

Nirranda South, south west Victoria, Australia, on private land used as a grazed dairy pasture.