TERN explained

For the European road project, see Trans-European road network

The Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network, or TERN by its acronym, is a research network that enables coordinated work across private research centres and Australian government agencies. TERN has also been described as "Australia’s terrestrial ecosystem observatory": it provides empirical data to Australian and foreign institutions.^[1] As of 2021, TERN boasted that its infrastructure has been instrumental in the publication of over 1,000 academic articles.^[2] NASA says it has used TERN data.^[3]

At launch in 2009, its funding included $55 million from the Australian government and $4 million in Queensland government funding. The partners include the University of Queensland, the Queensland University of Technology, Griffith University, CSIRO, the Queensland Department of Environment & Resource Management, and the University of Adelaide, all of which direct TERN.^[4]

As of 2021, TERN was funded by NCRIS, an Australian government initiative.^[5] TERN itself funds research infrastructure and data collection.^[6]

Infrastructure

TERN operates over 700 sites across Australia.^[7] As of 2013, TERN had installed 20 flux towers.^[8] The Daintree Rainforest Observatory (DRO), in Cape Tribulation, is monitored by TERN.^[9]

TERN provides three ranges of infrastructure: environmental monitoring at continental scale, a large collection of research plots, and a more limited collection of intensively monitored sites.^[10]

Notes and References

1. News: Daniel Bishton . Completing the jigsaw . 28 October 2021 . Spatial Source . 5 December 2018 . (TERN), Australia’s terrestrial ecosystem observatory, provides the Australian and international earth observation communities with the high quality, on-the-ground data.
2. Web site: Research Publications . TERN . 30 October 2021 . en . Since its inception, TERN’s infrastructure has enabled the publication of more than 1000 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles or books..
3. Web site: Ecostress - News . Jet Propulsion Laboratory . NASA . 30 October 2021 . en . 2017 . NASA to use TERN data in ECOSTRESS mission.
4. Web site: UQ leads new era of ecosystem management . . 28 October 2021 . https://archive.today/20211028181411/https://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2009/05/uq-leads-new-era-of-ecosystem-management . 28 October 2021 . en . 19 May 2009.
5. Web site: About Australia's Land Ecosystem Observatory . TERN . 28 October 2021 . en . TERN is supported by the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy, NCRIS..
6. Web site: About TERN . NCRS . . 28 October 2021 . en . TERN is also funding new research infrastructure and collection systems.
7. News: Dyani Lewis . Catastrophic Australian bushfires derail research . 28 October 2021 . Nature . 17 January 2020 . A handful of the 700 TERN sites without permanent infrastructure [...] have also been burnt..
8. News: Tom Arup . Carbon cycle tracked as Victoria's forests breathe . 28 October 2021 . The Sydney Morning Herald . 27 September 2013 . en . In Australia, about 20 flux towers have been installed as part of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network - a program trying to draw a baseline picture of how landscapes cycle CO2.
9. News: Kimberley Vlasic . James Cook University opens multi-million dollar Daintree Rainforest Observatory at Cape Tribulation . 28 October 2021 . . 21 November 2014 . en . The DRO forms part of the Rainforest Supersite monitored by Australia’s Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network.
10. James Cleverly . Derek Eamus . Will Edwards . Mark Grant . Michael J Grundy . Alex Held . TERN, Australia's land observatory: addressing the global challenge of forecasting ecosystem responses to climate variability and change . Environmental Research Letters . 23 August 2019 . 14 . 9 . 095004 . 10.1088/1748-9326/ab33cb . 200071009 . TERN provides environmental RI at three scales of observation: (i) environmental monitoring using remote sensing techniques at a landscape and continental scale; (ii) a spatially extensive network of ecosystem monitoring plots; and (iii) intensely measured sites collecting detailed data. free . 10453/134676 . free .