The cache is located at the Lompoc Campus of the Allan Hancock Public Safety Training Complex (PSTC). We appreciate their assistance and efforts to place this unique geocache.n place.
This state-of-the-art facility is built on 68 acres. It serves as a premier training location for college-accredited coursework on Administration of Justice, Emergency Medical Services, Fire Technology, Law Enforcement, and Wildland Fire Technology.
The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard JPSS satellites can detect wildfires by monitoring the heat present. The VIIRS Active Fire (VIIRS-AF) product provides information about fire location and intensity to help plan and manage a community's firefighting response. VIIRS can also forecast air quality by tracking volatiles, small particulate matter, and other pollutants.
NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) posts active fire data within three hours of a satellite observation from NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS).
Aerosols are tiny particles in the atmosphere that come from pollution from cars and factories, sea salt, dust, forest fires, and other sources. An Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) composite from May 1, 2022, shows part of Southeast Asia, where both the NOAA-20 and Suomi-NPP satellite’s VIIRS instrument show smoke from seasonal fires and blowing dust. The yellow, orange, and red on the map indicate thick aerosols, and the dark red shading corresponds to thicker aerosols.
A wildfire outbreak in the western United States in September of 2022 impacted air quality in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana. On September 10, 2022, the VIIRS instrument onboard the NOAA-20 and Suomi-NPP satellites collected Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) data that showed the smoke plumes in red, yellow, and green. The red areas indicate the thickest smoke.
