- 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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Astronauts Conduct Latest Plant Water Management on the International Space Station
NASA recently performed the sixth iteration of the CSS-supported Plant Water Management experiment on the International Space Station (ISS).

Ongoing Support for the Huntington Beach Oil Spill
Oil spills are disastrous and the clean-up is ongoing. Following the Huntington Beach, California oil spill in October 2021, our staff supported the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Response and Restoration with communications, data collection, and damage assessments. As various agencies collected data, our staff assisted the client in developing this map to…

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…