- Success Stories
- Environmental Resource Assessment & Management
Studying Mesophotic Coral Health
Mesophotic coral can live at depths of 500 feet below the ocean surface. Even at this depth, some of the mesophotic corals in the Gulf of Mexico were affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. Our coral scientists supporting NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science are studying the extent of this impact.
Three of our employee owners participated in a mission to extract the corals from the Gulf of America (formerly Gulf of Mexico) that were then transported to laboratories in Galveston, Texas, Gainesville, Florida, and Charleston, South Carolina. Once the Charleston specimens were housed in custom-made tanks, our scientists began studying and caring for the corals. They feed the colony multiple times daily, and study their growth and reproduction. In an effort to restore the damaged coral colonies in the Gulf of Mexico, the team is studying how to maximize growth and outplanting at a larger scale.
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Assisting with a Risk and Vulnerability Assessment
Los Angeles County in California is a densely populated area vulnerable to natural hazards such as flooding and wildfires. Our staff modified and applied the Integrated Vulnerability Assessment Framework developed by NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science to assess the county’s climate vulnerability. Through partner and stakeholder engagement, the team used a series of…
Supporting Wetlands Today and Throughout the Year
February 2 is World Wetlands Day, a day to celebrate and honor these invaluable ecosystems. Through a variety of projects on several contracts, our employee owners support wetlands throughout the year. Below are some examples of projects that CSS works on to support wetlands and promote the benefits they provide.
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…