Silver Plains
| Introduction to Silver Plains | |
| The purpose of the Silver Plains flux tower is to monitor exchanges of carbon dioxide, water vapour and energy in a high-altitude grassy peatland ecosystem on the Tasmanian Central Plateau. The Silver Plains flux tower is used to quantify the carbon balance of the ecosystem, along with the key components of net ecosystem exchange, gross primary productivity and ecosystem respiration and thus identify key environmental and climatic drivers of carbon, water and energy fluxes. Additionally the Silver Plains flux site will monitor changes in ecosystem carbon dynamics in response to hydrological restoration works occurring from 2027-2028, with the adjacent flux tower Wedgetail (AU-Wgt) serving as a control site. | |
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Name | Silver Plains |
| Fluxnet ID | AU-Sil |
| Longitude | 147.09 |
| Latitude | -42.09 |
| Description | The Silver Plains flux tower is located at Interlaken on the Tasmanian Central Plateau, Australia, on land owned and managed by the Tasmanian Land Conservancy (TLC). The site sits within TLC's Silver Plains Reserve, on the traditional lands of the Lairmairrener people. Silver Plains forms part of the Australian Mountain Research Facility (AMRF), which is part of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN), and contributes to a network of sites that assess the extent and effects of changing climate, water and fire regimes on ecosystem processes and their feedbacks across Australia's high country. The Silver Plains flux tower is ~500 m east of the Wedgetail flux tower (AU-Wgt) |
| Traditional Owners | Lairmairrener |
| Land Ownership | Private |
| Site history | Tasmanian Land Conservancy's privately owned Silver Plains Reserve and has been managed for conservation since 2010. Prior to 2010, the land was owned by Gunns Ltd., a Tasmanian timber production company, though the Silver Plains flux site itself has remained unaffected by logging. Prior to use by Gunns Ltd. the site was used for farming of sheep and cattle. To improve pasture for grazing, wetter grasslands across Silver Plains were drained through manual or machine-dug drainage canals ~100 years ago. |
| Date commissioned | 2019-12-01 |
| Data collection period | 2019 - present |
| Environment | |
| IGBP classification | Grasslands (10) |
| Vegetation | Supalpine grassland/grassy sedgeland |
| Elevation (masl) | 860 |
| Canopy Height (m) | 0.1 |
| Soil description | Organosol |
| Köppen Climate classification | No dry season / warm summer (Cfb) |
| Mean annual temperature (C°) | 7.8 |
| Mean annual precipitation (mm) | 738.2 |
| Tower operations | |
| Tower type | Guyed mast |
| Tower height (m) | 2.5 |
| Flux species | CO₂ , H₂O |
| Funding organisation | ARC,TERN |
| Owner organisation | University of Tasmania |
| Principal investigator | Mark Hovenden |
| Technician(s) | Bethany Yates |
| Collaborator(s) | Adrienne Nicotra, Duanne White, Leah Moore; ANU |
| Point of contact | Mark Hovenden, Mark Hovenden (mark.hovenden@utas.edu.au), Bethany Yates (bethany.yates@utas.edu.au) |
| Introduction to Silver Plains | |
| The purpose of the Silver Plains flux tower is to monitor exchanges of carbon dioxide, water vapour and energy in a high-altitude grassy peatland ecosystem on the Tasmanian Central Plateau. The Silver Plains flux tower is used to quantify the carbon balance of the ecosystem, along with the key components of net ecosystem exchange, gross primary productivity and ecosystem respiration and thus identify key environmental and climatic drivers of carbon, water and energy fluxes. Additionally the Silver Plains flux site will monitor changes in ecosystem carbon dynamics in response to hydrological restoration works occurring from 2027-2028, with the adjacent flux tower Wedgetail (AU-Wgt) serving as a control site. | |
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Name | Silver Plains |
| Fluxnet ID | AU-Sil |
| Longitude | 147.09 |
| Latitude | -42.09 |
| Description | The Silver Plains flux tower is located at Interlaken on the Tasmanian Central Plateau, Australia, on land owned and managed by the Tasmanian Land Conservancy (TLC). The site sits within TLC's Silver Plains Reserve, on the traditional lands of the Lairmairrener people. Silver Plains forms part of the Australian Mountain Research Facility (AMRF), which is part of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN), and contributes to a network of sites that assess the extent and effects of changing climate, water and fire regimes on ecosystem processes and their feedbacks across Australia's high country. The Silver Plains flux tower is ~500 m east of the Wedgetail flux tower (AU-Wgt) |
| Traditional Owners | Lairmairrener |
| Land Ownership | Private |
| Site history | Tasmanian Land Conservancy's privately owned Silver Plains Reserve and has been managed for conservation since 2010. Prior to 2010, the land was owned by Gunns Ltd., a Tasmanian timber production company, though the Silver Plains flux site itself has remained unaffected by logging. Prior to use by Gunns Ltd. the site was used for farming of sheep and cattle. To improve pasture for grazing, wetter grasslands across Silver Plains were drained through manual or machine-dug drainage canals ~100 years ago. |
| Date commissioned | 2019-12-01 |
| Data collection period | 2019 - present |
| Environment | |
| IGBP classification | Grasslands (10) |
| Vegetation | Supalpine grassland/grassy sedgeland |
| Elevation (masl) | 860 |
| Canopy Height (m) | 0.1 |
| Soil description | Organosol |
| Köppen Climate classification | No dry season / warm summer (Cfb) |
| Mean annual temperature (C°) | 7.8 |
| Mean annual precipitation (mm) | 738.2 |
| Tower operations | |
| Tower type | Guyed mast |
| Tower height (m) | 2.5 |
| Flux species | CO₂ , H₂O |
| Funding organisation | ARC,TERN |
| Owner organisation | University of Tasmania |
| Principal investigator | Mark Hovenden |
| Technician(s) | Bethany Yates |
| Collaborator(s) | Adrienne Nicotra, Duanne White, Leah Moore; ANU |
| Point of contact | Mark Hovenden, Mark Hovenden (mark.hovenden@utas.edu.au), Bethany Yates (bethany.yates@utas.edu.au) |
Images of Silver Plains
