Introduction | Contacts | Publications | Purpose | Site Description | Measurements | DEM | Pictures

Purpose

The purpose of the Alice Springs Mulga flux station is:

• to measure the exchanges of carbon dioxide, water vapour and energy between a semi-arid mulga (Acacia aneura) ecosystem and the atmosphere using micrometeorological techniques

• to study ecosystem, hydrologic and ecophysiologic responses to rainfall variability

• to evaluate the evapotranspiratory cost of assimilation

• to study the partitioning of ecosystem metabolism between the mulga canopy, a seasonal mixed understory (C3 and C4, grass and shrub) and soil components

• to utilise the measurements for paramterising a Soil-Vegetation-Atmosphere Transfer (SVAT) model to evaluate climate change scenarios in North-Central Australia

• to utilise the measurements for parameterising and validating remote sensing measurements over semi-arid mulga ecosystems

• to utilise the measurements for parmaterising and validating the Community Atmosphere-Biosphere Land Exchange (CABLE) model.