CSS employee owners supported the deployment and operation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) air quality monitoring trailer (WEAVE COM – Western Enhanced Air quality VEhicle for COmmunity Monitoring) in California’s San Joaquin Valley in during late fall and early winter of 2024.  Elevated particulate matter (PM2.5) is frequently found throughout the valley during the wintertime when thermal inversions trap pollution. Instruments on the trailer measure criteria air pollutants, other airborne contaminants and the chemical composition of particulate matter.  The mobile lab allows scientists to collect atmospheric data to fill in gaps between existing fixed air quality monitoring stations to help identify sources and types of atmospheric PM2.5. CSS staff helped set up the trailer at the deployment site, conducted daily quality control checks on multiple instruments, and supported instrument operations throughout the deployment. 

Trailer has instruments on top for monitoring air quality
WEAVE COM air quality monitoring trailer. 
View over a valley with a fog settled between the mountains
View overlooking San Joaquin Valley during a thermal inversion episode.

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Organizing Teams to Monitor Coastal Contaminants

For nearly 40 years NOAA’s National Mussel Watch Program has been monitoring contaminants in coastal waters in over 400 sites around the U.S. by testing sediment and bivalves, such as oysters and mussels. A CSS employee owner organizes and coordinates the regional missions to collect and test samples. This includes developing a schedule and coordinating…

Artist rendering of NOAA satellite in orbit

Engaging in New and Emergent Satellite Technologies 

CSS employee owners (formerly Riverside employees) support the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service’s (NESDIS) Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR). STAR is the science arm of NESDIS, which acquires and manages the nation’s environmental satellites for NOAA. Satellite observations are critical to informing situational awareness and…

Diesel Leak Remediation 

Our employee owners have been supporting a remediation project in the Philippines. Diesel fuel leaked from a storage tank and seeped into the groundwater and soil. Emergency measures were taken but clean-up was delayed due to COVID restrictions. After some of the more strict COVID restrictions were lifted, CSS scientists joined the environmental due diligence…