Flux Tower & Met Masts

Flux Tower

The flux tower is a 40 meter high tower which was installed alongside all the FACE array infrastructure in early 2016.

A permanent laboratory is situated at the foot of the 40 meter flux tower (installed Nov 2017). It provides housing for mass spectrometers and other equipment as well as some bench space. The lab has internal and external power and data capacity. A driveable pathway leads to the tower which allows mobile labs access. 

The following equipment is already installed on the tower, however we are always open to collaborators adding instruments. For example, Dr Sophie Fauset of Univesity of Plymoth was awarded NERC funding to increase the global network for IR monitoring of forest canopy temperatures (netCTF). As part of that award an instrument will be placed on our 40m flux tower collecting important continuous measurements.

If you would like to complete a research project in relation to the flux tower, please do submit your idea

Flux Tower Equipment
 Description Height (m)
 CO2/H2O Enclosed Path  40
 CH4 Probe open Path  40
 Smart Flux System  40
 Wind Master Pro 3D  40
 Net Radiometer  40
 Tipping Bucket Rain Gauge  40
 Quantum PAR Sensor  40
 Relative Humidity  40
 Phenocam 40 
 Quantum PAR Sensor  20
Relative Humidity 20

flux tower long 2

 

Met Masts

There are four met masts around the perimeter of the BIFoR FACE research woodland (Mill Haft).  These are equipped with the the following instruments:

  • Sonic anemometer
  • Windmaster Pro Sonic Anemometer x2 
  • Quantun Sensor 
  • Net Radiometer 
  • Tipping bucket rainguages 
  • Barometer and pressure port 
  • Humidity and temperature probe and shiel

The Met Masts are connected to the BIFoR grid. They were installed in November 2017 and the instrumentation was installed autumn 2018.   

Interested in using the data from the Met Masts? Want to add your own instrument? Want to collaborate? Find out more here.


met mast 4

The flux tower measurements & view by Rick Thomas & Anna Gardner (excerpt from 360 Tour)

Watch the whole video on our YouTube channel (pan around to see the 360 view)

Watch the flux tower being installed

 Watch the whole video and see other great videos of the design and build of BIFoR FACE on our YouTube channel   
 
Time-lapse images of the BIFoR FACE forest taken by the Phenocam

A phenocam is a digital camera capturing time-lapse images of foliage which can be used to generate quantitative measures of plant phenology. We are part of the Phenocam Network