Getting Started

• Prepare your Entity for Analysis

For the purposes of the Voluntary Reporting Program, an Entity means the whole or part of any business, institution, organization, government agency or corporation, or household that:

(1) Is recognized under any U.S. Federal, State or local law that applies to it;

(2) Is located and operates, at least in part, in the United States; and

(3) The emissions of such operations are released, at least in part, in the United States.

Your entity land area may be comprised of several parcels.  A parcel is an area of land that has uniform soils and common historical and present day land management.  The entity boundary is the extent of all the parcels owned or leased by the entity.  Your entity-level report will include the sum of the “Predicted Change” in “Soil Carbon” for all the parcels.

Before using COMET-VR, divide your land into parcels. You will need the following information about each parcel:

·       The location (i.e., state and county where the parcel is located)

·       The area in English or Metric Units            

·       The soil surface texture and hydric condition

·       The management history for four time periods

If your parcel is in more than one county/state, we recommend you produce reports for each parcel area separately, using the approximate area in each county/state.

• Start COMET-VR

Start COMET-VR by clicking on the "Tool" button at the top of this WEB page in the navigation bar. When you click on this button you will be asked a series of questions on seven input screens. Enter the requested information by typing in the form boxes, either by clicking on the selection lists or by clicking on the appropriate buttons. Once all the information is entered for a screen, submit your information by clicking on the "Next" button at the bottom of the page. 

Figure 1: Example of Buttons at the bottom of the page

Be sure to review the gray “Selection” box on the right side of the page as you enter information. Each new input is summarized in the “Selection” box. You can get help on any question by clicking on the  button.