Investigators and Partners

This project is the product of the combined efforts of many interdisciplinary researchers of various expertise and the investigators involved in this project are:

Jeffrey Walker (Monash University)

Jason Beringer (The University of Western Australia)

Christoph Rudiger (Monash University)

Edoardo Daly (Monash University)

The contributors involved in this project are:

Gift Dumedah

Frank Winston

Darren Hocking

Ian McHugh

MeiSun Yee

Tim Lubcke

Project Overview

Its purpose is to obtain data for validation of GCOM-W1 soil moisture products, which are components of a land surface data assimilation system. These data systems are important for land surface models, which rely on atmosphere-surface observations. Information provided by an existing network of soil moisture monitoring systems will also be used to validate the GCOM-W1 soil moisture product. The tower will provide longterm measurements as part of the Ozflux network .

Key research aims

To provide additional validation data for use in land surface data assimilation. These data systems are important for land surface models, which rely on atmosphere-surface observations.

For validation of the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-2 (AMSR2) soil moisture product and resulting soul moisture and flux estimates.

For crop modelling, runoff, flood forecasting, Land Surface Model forcing data (i.e. input of AMSR2 soil moisture into the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES) model).

The Site Location

The flux tower monitoring system is located within the Yanco region of New South Wales, Australia (Latitude: -34.99 S Longitude: 146.29 E). The Yanco area of the flux tower site is located in the western plains of the Murrumbidgee Catchment and is within a wider research area (60 x 60 km) that supports a network of OzNet stations, which have been in operation since late 2001 onwards.

Site Characteristics

The Yanco area of the flux tower site is located in the western plains of the Murrumbidgee Catchment. This is a topographically flat area, primarily comprised of the following soil types: sandy loams, scattered clays, red brown earths, transitional red brown earth, sands over clay and deep sands. Stream valleys and layered soil and sedimentary materials are found across the landscape.

The tower on site extends to 20m, however flux measurements are recorded from slightly lower than this (see measurements table for more details). Mean annual precipitation from a nearby Bureau of Meteorology site measured 465 mm. Maximum temperatures ranged from 37.4?C (in January) to 16.6?C (in July), while minimum temperatures ranged from 29.0?C (in January) to 11.8?C (in July). Maximum temperatures varied on a seasonal basis by approximately 20.8?C and minimum temperatures by 17.2?C.

Data

Data from this site is available through the OzFlux data portal international FLUXNET database or via the investigators email jason.beringer[@]uwa.edu.au

Further Information

• Prof. Jason Beringer
• Prof. Jeffrey Walker
• School of Agriculture and Environment
• Monash University
• The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
• The Australian Flux Network (OzFlux)
• The Terrestrial Ecosystem Science Network (TERN)
• The Terrestrial Ecosystem Science Network (TERN) Supersite network
• The National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS)
• The International FLUXNET

Acknowledgements

This project is supported by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, in collaboration with Monash University, Australia. This site is produced by Prof. Jason Beringer, UWA, School of Agriculture and Environment and proudly part of the Australian Flux Network(OzFlux).

Tower equipment

Radiation frame equipment