TundraFlux Database is an open, curated database of in-situ ecosystem respiration (Reco) measurements from Arctic and alpine tundra ecosystems, designed to support synthesis research on carbon cycling responses to experimental warming. The database compiles in situ Reco observations from open-top chamber (OTC) warming experiments and paired control plots across 64 tundra sites in 12 countries, spanning a wide range of climatic, edaphic, and vegetation conditions.
The database includes both contributor-submitted flux-level measurements and daily aggregated Reco values calculated at the plot level. Flux measurements originate from site-specific sampling protocols and may represent single observations per year, seasonal campaigns, weekly or daily measurements, or multiple measurements within a day. Daily aggregation is provided as a service to users to harmonize temporal resolution across sites while retaining the original measurements for custom filtering and alternative aggregation strategies.
In addition to Reco measurements, TundraFlux provides extensive, harmonized metadata describing the ecological and methodological context of each observation. This includes plot-level vegetation and soil properties (e.g., plant cover, biomass, soil carbon and nitrogen content, pH, bulk density), site-level environmental information (e.g., geographic location, climate, parent material, vegetation type), and site-level method metadata detailing flux and microclimate measurement approaches. Together, these data enable users to explore how biotic, abiotic, and methodological factors shape ecosystem respiration responses to warming.
All data are distributed as R data files (.rds) to preserve data fidelity and retain R-specific data types such as factors, dates, and character classes that are often lost in text-based formats (e.g., CSV). The repository includes analysis-ready combined datasets, plot-level flux and microclimate files, contributor-submitted flux-level data with quality-control flags, detailed documentation, and example R scripts demonstrating data loading, aggregation, and filtering.
The TundraFlux Database builds on earlier syntheses of tundra Reco responses to warming and substantially extends them by incorporating additional sites, longer time series, measurements beyond the peak growing season, and updated data through 2024. By providing standardized, open-access data with rich metadata coverage, the TundraFlux Database enables robust cross-site comparisons, supports model evaluation and benchmarking, and helps reduce uncertainty in projections of tundra carbon–climate feedbacks.
This work is licensed under
CC BY 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License).
CSTR:11738.11.ncdc.ecology.db7657.2026
10.12072/ncdc.ecology.db7657.2026
