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Citing AmeriFlux and FLUXNET data

AmeriFlux and FLUXNET data come from individual tower teams, and the data policies ask you to credit each site you use. amf_get_citation assembles everything on this page for a list of sites; this page explains what it returns and why. The text below follows the AmeriFlux data policy (CC-BY-4.0 license revised December 2025) and the FLUXNET data policy as read on 2026-10-2212; the policy pages are authoritative.

One citation per site

Every AmeriFlux product of every site has its own DOI under 10.17190/AMF/, and every FLUXNET2015 site one under 10.18140/FLX/. Cite each site in the reference list, not in supplementary material. AmeriFlux's recommended form includes the product version:

J. William Munger, Shawn Urbanski, Michael Golden, Carol Barford, Jaclyn Matthes, Steven Wofsy (2026), AmeriFlux BASE US-Ha1 Harvard Forest EMS Tower (HFR1), Ver. 28-5, AmeriFlux AMP, (Dataset). https://doi.org/10.17190/AMF/1246059

… (2026), AmeriFlux FLUXNET-1F US-Ha1 Harvard Forest EMS Tower (HFR1), Ver. v1.3_r1 (1991-2025), AmeriFlux AMP, (Dataset). https://doi.org/10.17190/AMF/1871137

The version, year and publisher in this form differ from what generic DOI services (DataCite, doi.org) return, so prefer AmeriFlux's form. BADM metadata downloaded with a product is cited with that product's DOI. AmeriFlux does not publish ready-made citation text for FLUXNET2015 sites; amf_get_citation builds it from the site's DOI record in the form the FLUXNET DOI landing page shows:

J. William Munger, Shawn Urbanski, Michael Golden, Carol Barford, Jaclyn Matthes, Steven Wofsy (1991-2012) FLUXNET2015 US-Ha1 Harvard Forest EMS Tower (HFR1), Dataset. https://doi.org/10.18140/FLX/1440071

Acknowledgments

For CC-BY-4.0 AmeriFlux data:

Funding for the AmeriFlux data service was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science.

For Legacy data the wording names the data portal:

Funding for the AmeriFlux data portal was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science.

When you use the AmeriFlux FLUXNET product, add:

FLUXNET data products were produced and harmonized by eddy covariance regional networks and data processing centers, including AmeriFlux, ChinaFlux, European Fluxes Database, ICOS, JapanFlux, KoFlux, OzFlux, SAEON, and TERN. These products also include a modified version of ERA5 hourly data provided by the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Processing references

Data availability statement

If your paper has a data availability section, the AmeriFlux policy suggests:

The AmeriFlux [DATA PRODUCT] were accessed from [SOURCE] on XX Month YYYY

where [SOURCE] can be the AmeriFlux data portal, AmeriFlux APIs, the FLUXNET User Interface for the Shuttle, or the FLUXNET Shuttle code. Data downloaded through ameriflux-mcp came through the AmeriFlux APIs.

What each policy asks of you

Policy Obligations
AmeriFlux CC-BY-4.0 Cite each site's DOI; include the DOE acknowledgment; add the data availability sentence when the paper has that section; informing data providers about publications is recommended.
AmeriFlux Legacy Contact the site PIs when you start in-depth analysis (they may offer co-authorship); cite each DOI; acknowledge site funding; include the DOE "data portal" acknowledgment; inform providers before publication; use the AmeriFlux logo or link in presentations.
FLUXNET2015 Tier 1 CC-BY-4.0: cite Pastorello et al. (2020); list each site by its FLUXNET ID and/or DOI; informing data providers is recommended.
FLUXNET2015 Tier 2 Scientific and educational use; contact the data providers when you begin research that could lead to a publication; give them at least three weeks to contribute after the first draft; list each site in a table. Six sites are Tier 2 only (RU-Sam, RU-SkP, RU-Tks, RU-Vrk, SE-St1, ZA-Kru) and are not part of Pastorello et al. (2020).

Mixing escalates. A study that combines CC-BY-4.0 and Legacy AmeriFlux data follows the Legacy policy for all of it; one that combines FLUXNET2015 Tier 1 and Tier 2 data treats all of it as Tier 2. amf_get_citation reports the effective policy for the sites you name, with each obligation marked required or recommended, and Citations and BADM describes everything it returns.

Citing ameriflux-mcp

ameriflux-mcp is software, not a data source: cite the data as above. If you want to mention the tool, for example in a methods section:

Data were discovered and retrieved with ameriflux-mcp (idss-mesa, University of New Mexico; https://github.com/idss-mesa/ameriflux-mcp), version X.Y.Z.

  1. AmeriFlux Data Policy. https://ameriflux.lbl.gov/data/data-policy/ ↩

  2. FLUXNET Data Policy. https://fluxnet.org/data/data-policy/ ↩

  3. Chu et al. (2023), Sci Data 10, 614. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02531-2 ↩

  4. Pastorello et al. (2020), Sci Data 7, 225. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-020-0534-3 ↩