IN FOCUS / LIEBHERR
JUNGLE GIANT CELEBRATES 20TH BIRTHDAY
The Liebherr 91EC is celebrating 20 years on the job.
For 20 years, a tower crane has been fundamental to a global, scientific network studying the world’s great rainforests. The Liebherr 91EC enables scientists to study everything from the forest floor to the tops of the canopy. AUSTRALIA’S LONGEST-STANDING crane celebrated its 20th birthday in November. While most cranes of this size spend their working lives in construction and industry, this 47-metre-high crane spends its days carrying researchers from the Daintree Rainforest floor to the canopy and above. Twenty years ago, a Liebherr 91 EC freestanding construction tower crane was built in the heart of Daintree Rainforest. The crane is central to the James Cook University’s Daintree Rainforest Observatory (DRO) at Cape Tribulation, as well as contributing to Australia’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Scheme through the Terrestrial Environmental Research Network (TERN). The canopy crane offers researchers access to the entirety of the rainforest – from the ground to the atmosphere above the canopy. Adding to the soil and ground-water monitoring capabilities of DRO, the crane makes this a true critical zone observatory monitoring the mechanisms and functions of the ecosystem critical to life on earth – soil, 44 / CAL January 2019
biota and atmosphere. Skilled technicians provide precise control over the canopy crane’s personnel box, giving researchers access to every layer of the Daintree’s irregular canopy. Power and data connections are available for equipment installations. The research uses automated sensors and a wireless data network to closely monitor a hectare of rainforest.
Within the arc of the crane, all 680 trees with a DBH (diameter at breast height) greater than 100mm have been identified and tagged. This covers 82 species across 33 different families. The university has installed a range of monitoring instruments to track the fundamental movements of resources in the ecosystem. These include dendrometers to monitor tree growth,
The crane carries researchers above the Daintree rainforest.
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