CZ

The Critical Zone (CZ) is the thin layer between the unweathered bedrock and the top of the vegetation canopy where “rock meets life”. The CZ includes soil, water, microbiota, vegetation, and fauna and harbours all processes supporting terrestrial ecosystems, soil-vegetation-water-atmosphere interactions and terrestrial ecosystem services. This VRE is designed to develop a scientific community focussing on CZ data sharing, mining, processing, and cataloguing through cloud services. The VRE is fully trans-disciplinary and fosters the community to build an ensemble of observatories and shared and interoperable models.