Insights
  • Success Stories
  • Satellite Science & Environmental Intelligence

Atmospheric Processing System Support

map of globe with swirls of orange around the center and blue around the poles

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 Scientist supporting the STC Atmospheric Science and Technology Applications team provides science, programming, and algorithm development support for this system.

Major tasks for this effort include

  • Outgoing Longwave Radiation – the longwave radiation emitted to space from the top of Earth’s atmosphere.
  • AWS cloud-based mission-long reprocessing – one-stop place to access all NUCAPS products
  • AEROSE field campaigns – collect and analyze atmospheric temperature, water vapour and ozone profiles, as well as aerosol optical depth and its origins.

For each of these tasks, the CSS remote sensing scientist’s contributions further develop and maintain these critical operations necessary for accurately forecasting and characterization of potentially dangerous weather events.

satellite image of earth on top. Arrow points to a hurricane. Heat map on bottom. Arrow points to a blue blob on bottom indicating the same hurricane as above.
Above is major hurricane Erin, category 4 at the time, shown on the VIIRS true-color image as a typical cloud cover and its correlative NUCAPS top-of-the-atmosphere outgoing longwave radiation or OLR observations from NOAA-21 CrIS sensor on August 19, 2025.

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  • Success Stories
  • Environmental Resource Assessment & Management

Expanding Our Offshore Wind Team

We’ve recently added several staff to bolster the offshore wind team at NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science. With this full team of 13, our employee owners are able to provide more focused support in their areas of expertise, including mapping and spatial modeling, data collection, communications, project management, and partner engagement. Through this…

stream running through a wooded area
  • Success Stories
  • Environmental Resource Assessment & Management

Developing a Stream Assessment Protocol 

CSS has been a significant contributor to the development and implementation of the Oregon Stream Function Assessment Method (SFAM) for more than 10 years. SFAM is a key component of the Oregon Stream Mitigation Program administered by the Oregon Department of State Lands.  The mitigation program is designed to address damage to aquatic resources caused…

  • Success Stories
  • Emergency Preparedness & Response

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…