- Success Stories
- Environmental Resource Assessment & Management
Developing a Database for Ecosystem Service Models
CSS scientists have been major developers and contributors to the online U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s EcoService Models Library (ESML) database since its inception in 2012. The ESML database contains detailed but concise descriptions of ecosystem service models to facilitate the selection of models by ecosystem scientists for a variety of management and research applications. The database contains over 290 ecosystem service models, with additional entries for specific model runs. CSS employee owners helped design the database and the framework for summarizing models. In addition, CSS has selected models from the database for generating scenarios of remediation options for specific Superfund sites to identify the ecosystem services they could provide. Models that have been applied include pollinator (e.g., bumblebee), carbon sequestration, and bird ecosystem services. The database can be accessed at www.epa.gov/eco-research/ecoservice-models-library/.
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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.…
Training the Next Generation of Researchers
CSS staff support the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Division of Occupational Safety and Health by providing Safe Techniques Advance Research Science (STARS) training to summer interns. Following a pause during the pandemic, staff resumed training May 15, 2024. During the in-person STARS training, CSS staff cover key concepts from the pre-requisite NIH Lab Safety…
Atmospheric Processing System Support
The NOAA Unique Combined Atmospheric Processing System (NUCAPS) is an operational retrieval algorithm that NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Services has been using since 2002. This system generates near real-time atmospheric profiles of temperature, water vapour, and trace gases, as well as Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) needed for weather forecasting. CSS Remote Sensing…