Purdue University is awarded a grant to develop a prototype Cyber-Environmental portal comprised of heterogeneous datasets and models that can be used to conduct scientific investigations on a range of real-world settings. This portal will enable the environmental research and remediation community to address the challenges of environmental data management and integration in real-world settings by combining heterogeneous data resources with state-of-the-art modeling and visualization tools. The prototype will consist of four components: (1) connections to data and metadata harvested from a variety of sources, (2) unified data access and transformation service modules, (3) a service-oriented workflow system capable of executing data preparation scenarios for model calibration and verification, and (4) a web-based graphical interface. The scientific questions that drive the project concern the effects of human activity on the quality of air, land, and water resources. Environmental events occur and interact at multiple spatial and temporal scales. Monitoring, prediction, and control of adverse effects requires the intelligent combination of existing data with proven and novel methods of analysis, visualization, and experimental design. A set of questions devised for the St Joseph watershed in Indiana will guide the design and evaluation of the prototype.
