Desert Ecology Plot Network: Weather Data (daily and monthly), Simpson Desert, Western Queensland, 1995-2018

Abstract: This weather data package comprises weather data collected between 1993 and 2018 for automatic weather stations situated at 13 sites separated by distances of between 5 and 80 km. The weather stations record temperature and rainfall (in 2010, one weather station was set up so that it also began recording wind speed and direction). The air temperature, rainfall, wind speed and wind direction data are recorded in a data logger housed within the instrument stand. The network program uses a core of 12 sites and aims to quantitatively track long-term shifts in biodiversity and ecological processes in relation to key drivers, including unpredictable rainfall and droughts, fire, feral predators and grazing. A synopsis of related data packages which have been collected as part of the Desert Ecology Plot Network's full program is provided at https://doi.org/10.25911/5c13171d944fe Project funding: Between 2012 and 2018 this project was part of, and funded through the Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTERN) a facility within the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) and supported by the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy.
Type
collection
Title
Desert Ecology Plot Network: Weather Data (daily and monthly), Simpson Desert, Western Queensland, 1995-2018
Alternate Title
Desert Ecology Research Group Plot Network: Weather Data (daily and monthly), 1995-2018
Collection Type
Dataset
Access Privileges
Long Term Ecological Research Network
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
10.25911/5c355df9c3dd7
Metadata Language
English
Data Language
English
Brief Description
This weather data package comprises weather data collected between 1993 and 2018 for automatic weather stations situated at 13 sites separated by distances of between 5 and 80 km.
Full Description
Abstract: This weather data package comprises weather data collected between 1993 and 2018 for automatic weather stations situated at 13 sites separated by distances of between 5 and 80 km. The weather stations record temperature and rainfall (in 2010, one weather station was set up so that it also began recording wind speed and direction). The air temperature, rainfall, wind speed and wind direction data are recorded in a data logger housed within the instrument stand. The network program uses a core of 12 sites and aims to quantitatively track long-term shifts in biodiversity and ecological processes in relation to key drivers, including unpredictable rainfall and droughts, fire, feral predators and grazing. A synopsis of related data packages which have been collected as part of the Desert Ecology Plot Network's full program is provided at https://doi.org/10.25911/5c13171d944fe Project funding: Between 2012 and 2018 this project was part of, and funded through the Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTERN) a facility within the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) and supported by the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy.
Methods
Weather Station setup
1
Environdata™ weather station
The network program uses 12 sites which are spaced at least 15 km apart, each comprising at least two 1-ha trapping grids, or plots which are spaced between 0.5-2 km apart. The 12 primary sites are spaced at least 15 km apart with an Environdata™ weather station at each site.
Data retrieval preparation - general
2
The air temperature, rainfall, wind speed and wind direction data are recorded in a data logger, which is housed within the instrument stand. Each weather station is protected against stock and other animals within a 6 m × 4 m area enclosed by ‘three strand’ fencing. As an added protection measure (against rats and dingoes), all exposed cables are passed through electrical conduit. Vegetation is cleared from within the fence and to 1 m outside the fence to prevent fire damage.
Data retrieval preparation - temperature
3
The weather stations record min, max and average temperature for each day. This is an ongoing dataset that has been recording these temperature data since 1995. Air temperature is recorded using an air temperature sensor that is housed in a sensor shelter located under the data logger housing.
Occasional recorded averages are outside of the min/max range due to the data logger having been reset or turned off.
Data retrieval preparation - rainfall
4
The weather stations record measured rainfall via a tipping bucket every minute. Data are pooled for each day. The automatic rain gauge is set up approximately 3 m from the instrument stand and housing. In addition to the automatic rain gauge, a manual rain gauge has been set up at each site.
Data retrieval preparation - wind speed and direction
5
There is an automatic weather station at a single site in the Simpson Desert, at Main Camp North (model: Environdata™, Warwick, Queensland). The dataset contains recorded wind speed and wind direction data. Wind speed and wind direction data have been recorded at this site since 2010.
Data retrieval
6
Data logger
Power is maintained using a solar panel, which is angled towards the north. The information stored in the data logger is retrieved using a laptop computer (or PDA/tablet) at roughly three-month intervals.
File Descriptions
derg_daily_weather_station_data_1995+_p935t1204.csv
ave_temp
definitionAverage daily temperature
interval number typereal
interval standard unitcelsius
ave_wind
definitionAverage daily wind speed
ratio number typewhole
ratio standard unitkilometersPerHour
ave_wind_dir
definitionAverage daily wind direction
ratio number typewhole
ratio standard unitdegree
date_of_reading
date time formatYYYY-MM-DD
definitionDate of record
descriptionDesert Ecology Plot Network daily weather data from 2016
max_gust
definitionMaximum daily wind gust speed
ratio number typewhole
ratio standard unitkilometersPerHour
max_temp
definitionMaximum daily temperature
interval number typereal
interval standard unitcelsius
max_wind
definitionMaximum daily wind speed
ratio number typewhole
ratio standard unitkilometersPerHour
min_temp
definitionMinimum daily temperature
interval number typereal
interval standard unitcelsius
notes
definitionNotes
nominal text definitionCharacter
number of records95647
rainfall
definitionDaily rainfall
ratio number typereal
ratio standard unitmillimeter
site_code
definitionSite code
nominal text definitionCharacter
site_name
definitionName of site
nominal text definitionCharacter
derg_monthly_weather_station_data_1995+_p935t1205.csv
count_rainfall
definitionNumber of days weather station was working within the month
ratio number typewhole
ratio standard unitnumber
descriptionDesert Ecology Plot Network monthly weather data from 2016
max_event
definitionMax rainfall event size per month
ratio number typereal
ratio standard unitmillimeter
mean_ave_wind
definitionMean monthly wind speed
ratio number typereal
ratio standard unitkilometersPerHour
mean_ave_wind_dir
definitionMean monthly wind direction
interval number typewhole
interval standard unitdegree
mean_max_temp
definitionMean maximum temp per month °C
interval number typereal
interval standard unitcelsius
mean_max_wind
definitionMean monthly maximum wind speed
ratio number typereal
ratio standard unitkilometersPerHour
mean_min_temp
definitionMean minimum temp per month °C
interval number typereal
interval standard unitcelsius
mean_rain
definitionMean rainfall per month
ratio number typereal
ratio standard unitmillimeter
mean_temp
definitionMean monthly temperature °C
interval number typereal
interval standard unitcelsius
month
definitionMonth
ordinal enumeration codes
1January
10October
11November
12December
2February
3March
4April
5May
6June
7July
8August
9September
number of records3310
rain_days
definitionNumber of days rain was recorded during the month
ratio number typewhole
ratio standard unitnumber
site_name
definitionName of site
nominal text definitionCharacter
total_rainfall
definitionTotal monthly rainfall
ratio number typewhole
ratio standard unitmillimeter
year
date time formatYYYY
definitionYear
Contact Email
glenda.wardle@sydney.edu.au; chris.dickman@sydney.edu.au; aaron.greenvile@sydney.edu.au; bobby.tamayo@sydney.edu.au
Contact Address
Heydon-Laurence Building A08 University of Sydney Sydney, NSW, 2006 Australia
Contact Phone Number
+61 2 9351 7113; +61 2 9351 2318; +61 2 9351 8577; +61 425 382 205; +61 420 526 801
Principal Investigator
Glenda Wardle
Supervisors
Chris Dickman
Collaborators
Aaron Greenville; Bobby Tamayo
Fields of Research
0501 - Ecological Applications; 0602 - Ecology
Keywords
GCMD:Earth Science Services>Models>Weather Research; LTERN Monitoring Theme:On plot weather; LTERN Monitoring Theme:Climate change; Desert Ecology Research Group; Weather Data (daily and monthly)
Type of Research Activity
Strategic basic research
Date Coverage
2018-06-29
1995-05-01
Geospatial Location
Simpson Desert, Western Queensland, Australia
text
northlimit = -23.20549; southlimit = -23.99417; westlimit = 137.86511; eastLimit = 138.6059
iso19139dcmiBox
Date of data creation
2018-10-22
Year of data publication
2018
Creator(s) for Citation
Wardle
Glenda
Dickman
Chris
Greenville
Aaron
Tamayo
Bobby
Publisher for Citation
Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTERN), ANU Data Commons, The Australian National University
Related Websites
ANU Open Research, Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTERN) collection.
https://hdl.handle.net/1885/130861
Other Related Identifiers
MorphoId:ltern6.194; PackageId:935
Access Rights Type
Open
Rights held in and over the data
Creative Commons Licence (CC BY- Attribution) is assigned to this data. Details of the licence can be found at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Licence Type
CC-BY - Attribution (Version 4)
Licence
LTERN Deed: 24 Date of execution: 2015-05-28
Retention Period
Indefinitely
Data Management Plan
No

Download data files

Number of files: 2

Size: 6.53 MB

Identifier: anudc:5756

Status: Published
Published to:
  • Australian National University
  • Australian National Data Service
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