Life beneath the surface, whether in oceans, lakes, or soils, is fundamentally three-dimensional. Understanding species behavior, habitat quality, and ecosystem dynamics requires volumetric analysis that flat maps and 2D profiles simply cannot provide. Earth Volumetric Studio gives researchers, ecologists, and resource managers the tools to build true 3D models of the environments that sustain life, from deep-ocean water masses to agricultural soils.
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Gain a Competitive Edge
Win More Funding & Projects — Grant proposals and project bids backed by compelling 3D visualizations of species distributions, habitat volumes, and environmental change stand out from the competition, demonstrating analytical rigor that reviewers and sponsors can immediately see and trust.
Communicate Findings Clearly — Transform complex volumetric datasets, dissolved oxygen levels, temperature gradients, nutrient distributions, into interactive 3D models that any audience can explore, from peer review panels to public stakeholder meetings.
Applications Across the Life Sciences
Fisheries & Aquatic Ecology — Model dissolved oxygen, temperature, and salinity distributions in lakes and oceans to understand fish habitat preferences, predict the impact of warming waters on species survivability, and investigate invasive species distributions, all in true 3D.
Oceanographic Research — Analyze CTD (Conductivity, Temperature, Depth) cast data to characterize water masses, map frontal features and upwelling structures, and correlate physical ocean properties with marine mammal foraging behavior and prey densities across seasons and years.
Agriculture & Soil Science — Move beyond 2D surface maps to true volumetric analysis of nutrient concentrations, plant available water, and soil stratigraphy. Studio’s depth-correlated kriging reveals subsurface patterns that drive precision agriculture decisions and optimize resource management.
Ecosystem & Habitat Modeling — Overlay species tracking data with environmental parameters to understand habitat use, map eutrophication zones, and quantify how changing conditions affect the volumetric extent of viable habitat, critical for conservation planning and resource management.
Research in Action
NOAA Chukchi Sea Study
NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and Russia conducted oceanographic research in the Chukchi Sea (September–October 1990) to understand how water mass properties influence marine ecosystems. Waters from the Bering Sea feed the Chukchi through the Bering Strait before entering the Arctic Ocean, creating a rich feeding ground for Bowhead whales, other marine mammals, and pelagic seabirds. Using Studio, researchers analyzed CTD (Conductivity, Temperature, Depth) cast data to map salinity and temperature distributions across the water column. The resulting 3D models revealed how cold pools and high-salinity structures aggregate prey — invertebrates and planktonic fish — creating the fertile feeding areas that drive marine mammal behavior. Fisheries ecologists and wildlife biologists overlay satellite and radio-tracking data with these oceanographic models to understand foraging patterns across seasons and years.
Saskatchewan Lake Trout Habitat
Saskatchewan Environment's Hydroacoustic Program collects dissolved oxygen, temperature, and trout population data in northern Canadian lakes to study how warming waters are contributing to declining fish habitat volumes. Studio's volumetric modeling reveals the 3D relationship between water quality parameters and species behavior that 2D analysis cannot capture. In one study using data from September 2002, researchers modeled lake trout habitat preferences in three dimensions, visualizing how trout avoid regions exhibiting high temperatures or low dissolved oxygen levels simultaneously. Volume rendering shows low dissolved oxygen zones as transparent clouds of varying color, while individual fish are displayed colored by temperature and scaled by length, revealing habitat selection patterns critical for conservation planning.
Precision Agriculture — Volumetric Soil Analysis
Agricultural researchers are discovering the advantages of analyzing soil properties on a true 3D volumetric basis rather than relying on traditional 2D surface maps. Studio’s depth-correlated kriging enables precise modeling of nutrient concentrations, plant available water, and soil stratigraphy at depth, revealing subsurface variability that drives yield differences across a field and informing targeted, cost-effective management strategies.
Plant available water modeled using depth-correlated kriging — rotate, zoom, and double-click to probe data. View more examples →
Trusted by Leading Research Institutions
C Tech’s software is used by research institutions, government agencies, and universities around the world for life sciences applications. Our customers include NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, fisheries and wildlife agencies, and academic researchers studying everything from Arctic marine ecosystems to freshwater lake ecology to precision agriculture. Wherever understanding the 3D world beneath the surface is essential.
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