CSS provides fire detection support to the Atmospheric Science and Technology Applications team with NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Services. CSS Surface Characteristics Scientist serves on the Fire Emissions and Fire Detection teams, providing data manipulation, algorithm development, and performance evaluation for the system. This ensures fast and reliable satellite data to stakeholders, as well as researchers in the long-term. The CSS surface characteristics scientist will transition to Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS)-Based Next Generation Fire System data retrieval and validation for the U.S. Department of the Interior federal land fire cases. This system is an experimental satellite-based fire detection algorithm developed by the University of Wisconsin. It uses multi-band imaging capabilities to obtain high-resolution atmospheric imagery and generate a variety of applied products, one of which includes visible and infrared imaging for detecting fires, smoke, and atmospheric aerosols. CSS will be working on location accuracy of fire detection for the Next Generation Fire System.

world map on left, map of Africa on right. Dots ranging from blue to yellow show fire burning.
VIIRS EFIRE Algorithm detecting and characterising fires across the globe, and specifically biomass burning in west and central Africa, on February 1, 2026. The higher the Fire Radiative Power (FRP), the more intense the fire.

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Employee Owners Nominated for NOAA Gold Medal Award 

Congratulations to CSS employee owners supporting NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science for their nomination for the NOAA Gold Medal Award! CSS employee owners have been critical members of the team charged with the rapid development of spatial models that aid in offshore wind planning in the Gulf of Mexico. The team has collected…

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…

A humpback whale swims along the water surface with blow spray hovering just above

Training Marine Mammal Programs to Use Drones to Collect Dolphin and Whale Respiratory Health Data

CSS employee owner and Marine Mammal Drone Specialist supports NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) Marine Mammal Health Assessment team with collecting respiratory health data from marine mammals in local waterways. Using specialized drones equipped with petri dishes provides a non-invasive method to collect exhaled breath (i.e. blow) samples from dolphins and whales.…