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

Purpose

The purpose of the Sturt Plains Flux Station is to:

• Provide information as part of a larger network of flux towers established along the North Australian Tropical Transect (NATT) gradient, which extends ~1000km south from Darwin 12.5°S. The towers provide flux data across the savanna’s heterogeneous ‘top end’ ecosystems including open forest savanna, open savanna woodland and seasonally inundated floodplains.

• Examine spatial patterns and processes of land-surface-atmosphere exchanges (radiation, heat, moisture, CO2 and other trace gasses) across scales from leaf to landscape scales within Australian savannas.

• Determine the climate and ecosystem characteristics (physical structure, species composition, physiological function) that drive spatial and temporal variations of carbon, water and energy fluxes from north Australian savanna.

• Determine if fluxes of carbon, water vapour and heat over the various ecosystems as derived from the various measurement techniques can be combined to form a comprehensive and consistent estimate of the regional fluxes and budgets across the landscape.

• Provide long-term consistent observations of energy, carbon and water exchange between the atmosphere and the ‘top end’ grassland.