Relationships Beyond the (Ivory) Flux Tower

By deploying a growing worldwide network of observation towers monitoring land‐atmosphere exchanges of water vapor, carbon dioxide and energy, eddy‐covariance flux scientists have played a central role in understanding how natural and managed ecosystems function and respond to environmental change. Yet in the face of accelerating climate change, social challenges, and constrained resources, towers alone cannot unlock the full potential of flux science. Obstacles remain in democratizing eddy‐covariance technology, expanding monitoring efforts and translating flux observations and insights into action. This challenge calls for recognizing and harnessing authentic connection to the people and places flux science serves as a vital research instrument. Drawing from stories featured on the Meet the Fluxers podcast, we highlight the community's vision for ecosystem flux research, rooted in relationship building, knowledge co‐production, and broader impacts that empower diverse communities across the world. Beyond building community, these inclusive and interactive approaches can advance scientific discoveries, drive actionable knowledge and secure sustainability of long‐term and more spatially representative monitoring. Celebrating FLUXNET's legacy of relationships and supporting its community‐centered aspects beyond its data sets is critical for building capacity toward a more inclusive solutions‐oriented future for flux science globally.

We thank all Meet the Fluxers guests, co-hosts, and volunteer members of the FLUXNET Outreach Working Group, who brought this project to life. Special thanks to Dennis Baldocchi, Ankur Desai, Maggie Xenopoulos, and one anonymous reviewer for conversations and feedback that enriched this perspective. Meet the Fluxers is produced as part of the FLUXNET Community Coordination project supported by the National Science Foundation's Accelerating Research through International Network-to-Network Collaborations (AccelNet) program (Award 2113978). We acknowledge additional support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (Award 2023-67012-40086).