TERN

For other uses, see Tern (disambiguation).

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.^[1] TERN has also been described as "Australia’s terrestrial ecosystem observatory": it provides empirical data to Australian and foreign institutions.^[2] As of 2021, TERN boasted that its infrastructure has been instrumental in the publication of over 1,000 academic articles.^[3] NASA says it has used TERN data.^[4]

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.^[1]

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]