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Cow Bay Flux Data Collection

This dataset consists of measurements of the exchange of energy and mass between the surface and the atmospheric boundary-layer in lowland tropical rainforest at the Daintree Discovery Centre near Cow Bay in Far North Queensland, using eddy covariance techniques. <br /> <br />

The Cow Bay flux station was established in December 2008 and managed by James Cook University. The forest is classified as complex mesophyll vine forest, there are 94 species in the core 1Ha, and average tree height is 22m. Elevation of the site is 90m and mean annual precipitation is 3935mm. The Daintree Rainforest is one of the most biodiverse forests in Australia.The instruments are mounted on a walk-up tourist tower at 35m. Fluxes of heat, water vapour and carbon dioxide are measured using the open-path eddy flux technique. Supplementary measurements above the canopy include temperature, humidity, windspeed, wind direction, rainfall, incoming and reflected shortwave radiation and net radiation.The early years 2009 - 12 had several data gaps. Shadowing of the radiometric equipment continues to cause artifacts on the radiometers - these can be seen as reduction in downwelling radiation with solar inclination. The site is part of the FNQ Rainforest SuperSite - associated with the Daintree node, which is part of the TERN Australian SuperSite Network (ASN). <br/>

For additional site information, see https://supersites.tern.org.au/supersites/fnqr-daintree .<br /> This data is also available at http://data.ozflux.org.au .

Simple

Identification info

Date (Creation)
2009-01-01
Date (Publication)
2021-09-20
Date (Revision)
2025-12-10
Edition
1.0

Publisher

Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network
Building 1019, 80 Meiers Rd
Indooroopilly
QLD
4068
Australia
+61 7 3365 9097

Author

James Cook University - Liddell, Michael (Associate Professor)
1 James Cook Drive, Bebegu Yumba campus, 4811, Douglas, Australia
Bebegu Yumba campus
Douglas
4811
Australia

Co-author

James Cook University - Weigand, Nico (Research Worker)
1 James Cook Drive, Bebegu Yumba campus, 4811, Douglas, Australia
Bebegu Yumba campus
Douglas
4811
Australia
Website
https://www.tern.org.au/

Purpose
The purpose of the Cow Bay flux station is to :<br /> measure exchanges of carbon dioxide, water vapour and energy between the tropical lowland rainforest in Far North Queensland and the atmosphere using micrometeorological techniques <br /> quantify the changes in carbon and water balances of an Australian tropical rainforest on a long term basis in the face of climate change <br /> present the results from the study in real time to the public and inform the public on what these results mean <br />
Credit
We at TERN acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians throughout Australia, New Zealand and all nations. We honour their profound connections to land, water, biodiversity and culture and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
Credit
The Cow Bay flux station is managed by James Cook University in a collaboration with the Daintree Discovery Centre. The site was co-funded by the Daintree Discovery Centre and the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN). <br> Past support was from the Department of Environment and Heritage - Marine and Tropical Sciences Research Facility Project 5ii.2. Climate Change: Scaling from trees to ecosystems.
Status
On going

Point of contact

James Cook University - Liddell, Michael (Associate Professor)
1 James Cook Drive, Bebegu Yumba campus, 4811, Douglas, Australia
1 James Cook Drive
Bebegu Yumba campus
Douglas
4811
Australia
Topic category
  • Climatology, meteorology, atmosphere

Extent

Description
The flux station is mounted at the 23m level viewing platform on the visitor tower at the Daintree Discovery Centre at Cow Bay, 100km from Cairns in Far North Queensland.
N
S
E
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Temporal extent

Time period
2009-01-01
Title
Daintree Rainforest SuperSite
Website
Daintree Rainforest SuperSite

Related documentation

Title
Isaac, Peter et al., 2017. OzFlux data: network integration from collection to curation. Biogeosciences, 14(12). doi:10.5194/bg-14-2903-2017
Website
Isaac, Peter et al., 2017. OzFlux data: network integration from collection to curation. Biogeosciences, 14(12). doi:10.5194/bg-14-2903-2017

Related documentation

Title
Beringer, Jason et al., 2016. An introduction to the Australian and New Zealand flux tower network – OzFlux. Biogeosciences, 13(21). doi:10.5194/bg-13-5895-2016
Website
Beringer, Jason et al., 2016. An introduction to the Australian and New Zealand flux tower network – OzFlux. Biogeosciences, 13(21). doi:10.5194/bg-13-5895-2016

Related documentation

Maintenance and update frequency
Biannually
GCMD Science Keywords
  • BIOGEOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
  • LAND PRODUCTIVITY
  • EVAPOTRANSPIRATION
  • TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS
  • ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE MEASUREMENTS
  • TURBULENCE
  • WIND SPEED
  • WIND DIRECTION
  • TRACE GASES/TRACE SPECIES
  • ATMOSPHERIC CARBON DIOXIDE
  • PHOTOSYNTHETICALLY ACTIVE RADIATION
  • LONGWAVE RADIATION
  • SHORTWAVE RADIATION
  • INCOMING SOLAR RADIATION
  • HEAT FLUX
  • AIR TEMPERATURE
  • PRECIPITATION AMOUNT
  • HUMIDITY
  • SOIL MOISTURE/WATER CONTENT
  • SOIL TEMPERATURE
ANZSRC Fields of Research
  • Atmospheric sciences
  • Climate change impacts and adaptation
  • Ecosystem function
  • Environmental management
  • Soil sciences
TERN Platform Vocabulary
  • Cow Bay Flux Station
TERN Instrument Vocabulary
  • Hukseflux HFP01
  • Hukseflux NR01
  • Observator RIM-8000 series rain gauge
  • Rotronic HC2(A)-S, HC2(A)-S3(H), HC2(A)-S-HH, HC2-S3CO3(-PT15), HC2(A)-SM and HC2-S and HC2A-S series
  • Campbell Scientific CS616
  • Vaisala HMP45C
  • Campbell Scientific TCAV Averaging Soil Thermocouple Probe
  • Campbell Scientific CSAT3
  • Vaisala WXT520
  • Environdata WeatherMaster 2000
  • LI-COR LI-190 (SA, SZ, and SL versions)
  • LI-COR LI-7500
TERN Parameter Vocabulary
  • mass concentration of carbon dioxide in air
  • Milligram per Cubic Metre
  • surface upward latent heat flux
  • Watt per Square Metre
  • downward heat flux at ground level in soil
  • Watt per Square Metre
  • surface downwelling longwave flux in air
  • Watt per Square Metre
  • surface upwelling longwave flux in air
  • Watt per Square Metre
  • surface downwelling shortwave flux in air
  • Watt per Square Metre
  • surface upwelling shortwave flux in air
  • Watt per Square Metre
  • thickness of rainfall amount
  • Millimetre
  • relative humidity
  • Percent
  • specific humidity
  • Kilogram per Kilogram
  • soil moisture content
  • Cubic Metre per Cubic Metre
  • air temperature
  • Degree Celsius
  • soil temperature
  • Degree Celsius
  • water vapor partial pressure in air
  • Kilopascal
  • water vapor saturation deficit in air
  • Kilopascal
  • wind from direction
  • Degree
  • wind speed
  • Metre per Second
  • surface air pressure
  • Kilopascal
  • surface net downward radiative flux
  • Watt per Square Metre
  • surface upward sensible heat flux
  • Watt per Square Metre
  • mass concentration of water vapor in air
  • Gram per Cubic Metre
  • surface upward flux of available energy
  • Watt per Square Metre
  • magnitude of surface downward stress
  • Kilograms per metre per square second
  • mole fraction of water vapor in air
  • Millimole per Mole
  • Monin-Obukhov length
  • Metre
  • specific humidity saturation deficit in air
  • Kilogram per Kilogram
  • eastward wind
  • Metre per Second
  • northward wind
  • Metre per Second
  • vertical wind
  • Metre per Second
  • ecosystem respiration
  • Micromole per Square Metre Second
  • water evapotranspiration flux
  • Kilograms per square metre per second
  • gross primary productivity of biomass expressed as carbon
  • Micromole per Square Metre Second
  • net ecosystem exchange
  • Micromole per Square Metre Second
  • net ecosystem productivity
  • Micromole per Square Metre Second
  • surface upward mole flux of carbon dioxide
  • Micromole per Square Metre Second
  • surface friction velocity
  • Metre per Second
  • surface downwelling photosynthetic photon flux in air
  • Millimole per Square Metre Second
  • mole fraction of carbon dioxide in air
  • Micromole per Mole
  • upward mole flux of carbon dioxide due inferred from storage
  • Micromole per Square Metre Second
QUDT Units of Measure
  • Milligram per Cubic Metre
  • Watt per Square Metre
  • Watt per Square Metre
  • Watt per Square Metre
  • Watt per Square Metre
  • Watt per Square Metre
  • Watt per Square Metre
  • Millimetre
  • Percent
  • Kilogram per Kilogram
  • Cubic Metre per Cubic Metre
  • Degree Celsius
  • Degree Celsius
  • Kilopascal
  • Kilopascal
  • Degree
  • Metre per Second
  • Kilopascal
  • Watt per Square Metre
  • Watt per Square Metre
  • Gram per Cubic Metre
  • Watt per Square Metre
  • Kilograms per metre per square second
  • Millimole per Mole
  • Metre
  • Kilogram per Kilogram
  • Metre per Second
  • Metre per Second
  • Metre per Second
  • Micromole per Square Metre Second
  • Kilograms per square metre per second
  • Micromole per Square Metre Second
  • Micromole per Square Metre Second
  • Micromole per Square Metre Second
  • Micromole per Square Metre Second
  • Metre per Second
  • Millimole per Square Metre Second
  • Micromole per Mole
  • Micromole per Square Metre Second
GCMD Horizontal Resolution Ranges
  • Point Resolution
GCMD Temporal Resolution Ranges
  • 1 minute - < 1 hour
Keywords (Discipline)
  • mesophyll vine forest
  • Au-Cow

Resource constraints

Use limitation
The Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license allows others to copy, distribute, display, and create derivative works provided that they credit the original source and any other nominated parties. Details are provided at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
File name
88x31.png
File description
CCBy Logo from creativecommons.org
File type
png
Linkage
https://w3id.org/tern/static/cc-by/88x31.png

Title
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
Alternate title
CC-BY
Edition
4.0
Website
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Access constraints
License
Use constraints
Other restrictions
Other constraints
TERN services are provided on an “as-is” and “as available” basis. Users use any TERN services at their discretion and risk. They will be solely responsible for any damage or loss whatsoever that results from such use including use of any data obtained through TERN and any analysis performed using the TERN infrastructure. <br /><br />Web links to and from external, third party websites should not be construed as implying any relationships with and/or endorsement of the external site or its content by TERN.<br /><br />Please advise any work or publications that use this data via the online form at https://www.tern.org.au/research-publications/#reporting

Resource constraints

Classification
Unclassified

Distribution Information

Distribution format

Distributor

Distributor

Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network
80 Meiers Road, Indooroopilly, Queensland, 4068, Australia
Indooroopilly
Queensland
4068
Australia
OnLine resource
Catalog for NetCDF files

OnLine resource
ro-crate-metadata.json

Data quality info

Hierarchy level
Dataset
Other
If the data quality is poor, the data is filled from alternative sources. Filled data can be identified by the Quality Controls flags in the dataset. Quality control checks include (i) range checks for plausible limits, (ii) spike detection, (iii) dependency on other variables and (iv) manual rejection of date ranges. Specific checks applied to the sonic and IRGA data include rejection of points based on the sonic and IRGA diagnostic values and on either automatic gain control (AGC) or CO2 and H2O signal strength, depending upon the configuration of the IRGA. For more details, refer to Isaac et al (2017) in the Publications section, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-2903-2017. <br> For further information about the software (PyFluxPro) used to process and quality control the flux data, see https://github.com/OzFlux/PyFluxPro/wiki.

Resource lineage

Statement
All flux raw data is subject to the quality control process OzFlux QA/QC to generate data from L1 to L6. Levels 3 to 6 are available for re-use. Datasets contain Quality Controls flags which will indicate when data quality is poor and has been filled from alternative sources. For more details, refer to Isaac et al (2017) in the Publications section, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-2903-2017 .
Hierarchy level
Dataset

Reference System Information

Reference system identifier
EPSG/EPSG:4326

Reference system type
Geodetic Geographic 2D

Metadata

Metadata identifier
urn:uuid/8707c581-755e-4408-b54f-9eb9c14bca24

Title
TERN GeoNetwork UUID

Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8

Point of contact

Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network
Building 1019, 80 Meiers Rd
Indooroopilly
QLD
4068
Australia
+61 7 3365 9097

Type of resource

Resource scope
Dataset
Metadata linkage
https://geonetwork.tern.org.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/8707c581-755e-4408-b54f-9eb9c14bca24

Point-of-truth metadata URL

Date info (Creation)
2009-01-01T00:00:00.000000+00:00
Date info (Revision)
2025-12-10T10:27:06.574873+00:00

Metadata standard

Title
ISO 19115-1:2014/AMD 1:2018 Geographic information - Metadata - Fundamentals
Edition
1

Metadata standard

Title
ISO/TS 19115-3:2016
Edition
1.0

Metadata standard

Title
ISO/TS 19157-2:2016
Edition
1.0
Title
Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-3:2016 and ISO 19157-2:2016
Date (published)
2021
Edition
1.0

Identifier

Code
10.5281/zenodo.5652221
Website
https://github.com/ternaustralia/TERN-ISO19115/releases/tag/v1.0

 
 

Overviews

Spatial extent

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W


Keywords

ANZSRC Fields of Research
Atmospheric sciences Climate change impacts and adaptation Ecosystem function Environmental management Soil sciences
GCMD Science Keywords
AIR TEMPERATURE ATMOSPHERIC CARBON DIOXIDE ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE MEASUREMENTS BIOGEOCHEMICAL PROCESSES EVAPOTRANSPIRATION HEAT FLUX HUMIDITY INCOMING SOLAR RADIATION LAND PRODUCTIVITY LONGWAVE RADIATION PHOTOSYNTHETICALLY ACTIVE RADIATION PRECIPITATION AMOUNT SHORTWAVE RADIATION SOIL MOISTURE/WATER CONTENT SOIL TEMPERATURE TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS TRACE GASES/TRACE SPECIES TURBULENCE WIND DIRECTION WIND SPEED

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Access to the portal
Read here the full details and access to the data.

Associated resources

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