The Argos DCS is another data collection relay system that adds the benefits of providing global coverage and platform location. The Argos program is administered under a joint agreement between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the French space agency, Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES). The system consists of in-situ data collection platforms equipped with sensors and transmitters and the Argos instrument aboard the NOAA Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES). The global environmental data sets are collected at telemetry ground stations in Fairbanks, Alaska; Wallops Island, Virginia; and Lannion, France; and pre-processed by the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) in Suitland Maryland. Two CNES subsidiary companies, Collecte Localisation Satellites in Toulouse, France and Service Argos in Largo, Maryland process the data and deliver it to the end user.