July 09, 2020

The FLUXNET2015 Dataset and the ONEFlux Processing Pipeline for Eddy Covariance Data

The Science

FLUXNET2015 is the largest and most complete dataset of land-atmosphere fluxes ever produced. This paper is the definitive documentation for its production and the open-source software pipeline (ONEFlux), metadata, and led to a more open data policy.

The Impact

Now used in hundreds of publications, FLUXNET2015 serves many applications, from ecophysiology and remote sensing studies, to development of ecosystem and Earth system models. The new features motivated by this paper will further fuel scientific investigation while allowing credit attribution to data contributors.

Summary

FLUXNET2015 provides ecosystem-scale data on CO₂, water, and energy exchange between the biosphere and atmosphere from 212 sites around the globe who voluntarily contributed their data. Data were quality controlled and processed using uniform methods to improve consistency and intercomparability across sites. It includes gap-filled time series, ecosystem respiration and photosynthetic uptake estimates, and uncertainties. In addition, 206 of these sites are for the first time distributed under a Creative Commons (CC-BY 4.0) license. This paper details this enhanced dataset and the processing methods, now made available as open-source codes, making the dataset more accessible, transparent, and reproducible.

Principal Investigator

Margaret Torn
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
[email protected]

Program Manager

Daniel Stover
U.S. Department of Energy, Biological and Environmental Research (SC-33)
Environmental System Science
[email protected]

Funding

The FLUXNET eddy covariance data processing and harmonization was carried out by the AmeriFlux Management Project and the European Fluxes Database Cluster (European Union H2020 projects), with contributions from the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, ICOS Ecosystem Thematic Centre, and OzFlux, ChinaFlux, and AsiaFlux offices. Funding for the AmeriFlux Management Project was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research Terrestrial Ecosystem Science and Data Management Programs under contract number DE-AC02-05CH11231. Funding for the FLUXNET Partnership Project was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science.

References

G. Pastorello et al. "The FLUXNET2015 dataset and the ONEFlux processing pipeline for eddy covariance data." Scientific Data 7 (225), (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-020-0534-3.