- Success Stories
- Satellite Science & Environmental Intelligence
Supporting the Launch of NOAA Data to Inform More Resilient Infrastructure Designs and Structures
Congratulations to NOAA for launching their new Typical Meteorological Year product, developed by the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) as part of the industry initiative. This effort helps make environmental data actionable for architects and engineers designing the next generation of resilient infrastructure. CSS is proud to support this effort and our employee owners who contributed to this product.
The Typical Meteorological Year (TMY) product provides location-specific meteorological data that represents a “typical” year for a given site. By combining historical observations with future climate projections through 2100, TMY enables professionals to design with both past conditions and future risks in mind.
Available across all 50 U.S. states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, TMY includes key variables such as:
- Temperature – to optimize insulation, heating, and cooling
- Solar radiation – to guide energy-efficient building design
- Wind speed – to support structural durability and ventilation
- Precipitation – to inform drainage and water management
NOAA shaped TMY through input from and engagement with architecture and engineering leaders, including the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Institute of Architects. This user engagement effort — co-led by CSS employee-owners — helped refine the interface and determine the most useful variables and which data formats flow seamlessly into design and modeling tools.
By incorporating historical data and future climate projections into modeling, TMY helps architects and engineers design safer, more resilient structures—including hospitals, schools, bridges, and stormwater systems.
TMY is delivered through an interactive web interface with flexible download options, making it easy to access and apply in real-world projects. Environmental data tools like TMY enable data-driven decisions that improve performance, reduce risk, and support long-term resilience.
CSS played a critical role in the development of this tool, including managing the development (timeline, scope, and team), and developing the interface, backend, methodology, and website landing page. CSS is proud of our team’s contributions to the NCEI industry initiative and this great accomplishment. This effort is supporting data-driven decisions, strengthening national preparedness, and helping communities thrive in the face of extreme weather.
NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service recognized the TMY development team with their Outstanding Science and Research Team Member Award, highlighting the innovation and impact of this first-of-its-kind industry collaboration.
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Remediating Soil Surrounding Abandoned Mines
CSS employees have been providing field, lab, and horticultural support for the Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to develop and test methods for the remediation and revegetation of contaminated soils around selected abandoned mines in the western United States. One of the promising approaches is to incorporate biochar into the soil. Using biochar helps effectively adsorb trace metals and reduce their…
1000 Samples of Lake Water Collected and Processed
Congrats to our team supporting U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development for completing the processing and initial chemical analyses of 1000 lake water samples! They received lake water samples from across the continental U.S. this past summer and have completed the initial chemical analyses as part of the U.S. EPA 2022 National…
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…