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Rainout Shelters
Reliable and sustainable water supply has always been a challenge in Australia.
Six large rainout shelters, that have rain-sensing, automatic retractable roofs, have been built to enable scientists to manipulate rainfall timing and magnitude to field-test projected future climate conditions on trees.
When rain is detected, transparent curtains are automatically deployed and unrolled from the top and on each side of the shelter. After rain ceases, the curtains are automatically raised to their orirginal position.
Rainwater is collected from the shelter roofs and can be re-applied to the soil at the appropriate time. All plots are extensively equipped with sensors linked to data loggers to continuously monitor environmental conditions.
The experiment will provide the flexibility to manipulate rainfall volumes and seasonality – to mimic conditions expected in the near future.
