AGFACE CO2 Dataset
Description
Within the Australian Grains Free Air CO2 Enrichment (AGFACE) research program, several facilities were established at different field sites near the towns of Horsham (36.752 S, 142.114 E; 127 m elevation), and Walpeup (35.121 S, 142.005 E; 94 m elevation) in the state of Victoria Australia from 2007 – 2017. These included: TraitFACE, SoilFACE, WalpeupFACE, VegeFACE, and NFACE. These facilities were designed to answer different questions to support research to understand the impacts of elevated CO2 on crop physiology and production. FACE ‘rings’ (octagons) were built to elevate atmospheric CO2 to 550 µmol/mol expected by 2050 and allowing crops to grow freely, without enclosures. Each side of an octagonal ring was individually controlled by a ring-side controller that injected CO2 over crops as per control program. Infrared Gas Analysers (IRGAs) placed at ring centres sampled and analysed air continuously. IRGAs measured atmospheric CO2 levels during the cropping season and provided feedback to the controller to maintain ring-centre CO2 concentration ([CO2]) at 550 µmol/mol. The [CO2] data, measured each second, were collected from the centre of each active FACE ring from 2007 until 2017. Wind direction and speed were monitored continuously at 2 m above the soil surface at the centre of each ring. These measurements were also collected at the centres of a couple of ambient experimental areas (control – no rings) using the same IRGA and wind sensors. A wireless ethernet local area network (LAN) and a Visual Basic program were used to monitor and transmit data from the individual rings and control areas for data logging. Data at every 4th second and one-minute average (A_MN_CO2) from each ring were logged to daily files, and only A_MN_CO2 data were combined into a seasonal cumulative file. All data recorded during the IRGA warmup period and due to equipment malfunction were removed from cleaned data files. Only A_MN_CO2 data from the rings are uploaded in the Mendeley Data Repository, because these data are principally used by the scientists and researchers. Data columns in an individual clean file are labelled with abbreviated column names and their description is provided in Table 3 of the related article. • These data are useful for the design and performance of Free Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) systems which inject pure CO2 from the horizontal tubes surrounding FACE rings. It will provide data to assess the variation and stability of CO2 at ring-centres. Models for wind speed and direction vs [CO2] can be developed from these data as co-variates to analyse biophysical data. • Engineers and scientists who design and develop FACE systems will benefit from these data. • Year-to-year [CO2] data at ring-centre can be analysed to evaluate the performance of pure CO2 injected FACE rings for various ring sizes and wind speeds. This will help engineers and scientists to optimise the FACE design.