SBIR-STTR Award

An understanding of terrestrial ecosystem processes requires integration and joint analysis of a large amount of heterogeneous (chemical, physical, vegetation, remote sensing, and microbiological) data from different providers. Microbiological data and analysis tools are currently separately managed and developed from other datasets, making it very challenging to fully understand terrestrial systems. A cloud based software package is being developed which couples two existing web based data management and analysis platforms – one for microbiological data (KBase), and one for physical, chemical and remote sensing data terrestrial data (PAF). This coupling will allow for the development of a better understanding of terrestrial ecosystem processes. End users (both agriculture and scientists) will be able to use the integrated platform for scientific and operational efforts to gain a better understanding of terrestrial system functioning. In Phase I we will perform the coupling of PAF and KBase data and analytical tools. We will demonstrate and validate the coupling using data from several DOE research sites. This system will allow agricultural users to understand soil microbiological functioning and – based on this understanding – to optimize best management and operational practices.