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

Site Description

The Ridgefield flux station is located in at the UWA future farm in the wheatbelt of Western Australia about 200km southeast from Perth, Western Australia (GPS coordinates: -32.5061, 116.9668; elevation: 330m). The Future Farm 2050 Project is based on UWA Farm Ridgefield. The Project's vision is to imagine the best-practice farm of 2050 and build and manage it now (http://www.ioa.uwa.edu.au/future-farm-2050). The site is established in a typical wheat field (a dominant managed land use type in Western Australia) and in an area that has been subject to extensive clearing. We will contrast this with a native vegetated system and explore the past, present and future GHG budgets of these systems.

The flux tower site is located within an area of dryland agriculture. The surrounding area is dominated by broadacre farming practices. The vegetation cover is predominantly pasture. Elevation of the site is close to 330m and mean annual precipitation at a nearby Bureau of Meteorology site at Pingelly measures 446mm.

Maximum temperatures range from 15.3°C (in July) to 31.9°C (in Jan), while minimum temperatures range from 5.5°C (in July) to 15.5°C (in Jan).

The instrument mast is 10 meters tall. Heat, water vapour, carbon dioxide and methane measurements are taken using the open-path eddy flux technique. Temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, rainfall and net radiation are measured. Soil heat fluxes are measured and soil moisture content are collected.