- Success Stories
- Satellite Science & Environmental Intelligence
Supporting the Development and Refinement of Advanced Atmospheric Sounding Products
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Unique Combined Atmospheric Processing System (NUCAPS) provides critical information on temperature, moisture, ozone, and other variables that help forecasters and climate experts understand conditions throughout the atmosphere. CSS Employee Owners are key contributors to the team, supporting the development and refinement of advanced atmospheric sounding products.
The work of CSS centers on improving the algorithm behind Outgoing Longwave Radiation, the key indicator of Earth’s energy balance and climate system. CSS supports NOAA’s Amazon Web Service cloud‑based mission‑long reprocessing efforts, ensuring continuous, accurate data records using up‑to‑date algorithms. These long‑term datasets are essential for monitoring Earth’s changing climate and supporting sustainability planning.
In addition, CSS contributes to Aerosols and Ocean Science Expedition campaigns, which include dedicated radiosonde launches over tropical oceans to validate NUCAPS temperature and humidity profiles. These observations strengthen NOAA’s ability to produce more reliable weather and climate insights.
Through this work, CSS contributions support NOAA’s mission to maintain healthy ecosystems, communities, and economies that are resilient to change, which is critical as natural disaster costs continue to climb into the tens and hundreds of billions of dollars each year. The expertise of CSS Employee Owners helps provide the foundational science behind forecasts, warnings, and climate assessments used by scientists, policymakers, and emergency managers.
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Large-Scale Decontamination Proves Successful
In the spring of 2022, we worked with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard on a project called Analysis for Coastal Operational Resiliency-Wide Area Demonstration (WAD) which tests large scale decontamination following the release of surrogate bioagents. The team conducted a WAD at a military base in Virginia to test decontamination…
High Resolution Land Cover Maps Now Available
NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management has released higher resolution land cover maps for Alabama, Mississippi, Northeast Ohio, Rhode Island, and the Puget Sound in Washington. These 1 meter data—previously only available in 30 meter—provide more detail communities need to map and understand their landscapes and features, including tree canopy, wetlands, impervious surface and several other categories. This additional detail will help inform decisions regarding stormwater management, flood mitigation, wetland restoration, and more. CSS employee owners—subcontracted through Lynker Technologies—contributed to the release of this…
Contributing to Wind Energy Area Designations
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) recently announced two Wind Energy Areas (WEAs) in the Gulf of Mexico. The WEAs are located off the coasts of Galveston, Texas, and Lake Charles, Louisiana and have the potential to power nearly three million homes. BOEM collaborated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to identify…