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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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…

Examining Cetaceans for Contamination and Pathogens

CSS has employee owners who are experts in monitoring cetacean health. Several CSS scientists supporting NOAA’s Centers for Coastal Ocean Science have recently conducted research and tests on marine mammals to explore uncommon behaviors and causes for strandings. View some examples of this research below. Microplastics are becoming increasingly abundant in coastal and marine environments.…

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…