Understanding the YANA-IGY System

The Command Center is a 3x3 grid of panels, each dedicated to a specific category of monitoring. Think of it as a wall of screens in an emergency operations center. Here is what each panel does:

1. Alert Status — LIVE

This is the primary alert feed. It shows real-time alerts pulled from government sources including USGS (earthquakes), NOAA/NWS (weather), NASA FIRMS (wildfires), and NDBC (ocean buoys). Each alert appears as a row with a severity-colored left border, an icon, a title, and metadata showing the source and time. The badge in the top-right corner reads "LIVE" when data is actively streaming, or "ALERT" (in red) when critical threats are detected.

2. Mesh Network Stats

Displays the health and configuration of the YANA-IGY mesh relay network. This is the peer-to-peer alert delivery system that passes emergency alerts between devices. Key values shown:

• Network Status — Whether the mesh relay network is active, degraded, or offline
• Relay Protocol (BLE + Wi-Fi) — Alerts hop between nearby devices using Bluetooth Low Energy and Wi-Fi
• Max Hop Depth (5 hops) — An alert can pass through up to 5 devices to reach someone with no internet
• Alert TTL (60 min) — "Time To Live" — an alert stays active in the mesh for 60 minutes before it expires
• Encryption (AES-256) — All mesh data is encrypted with AES-256, a military-grade encryption standard
• Coverage (50 States) — The mesh network spans all 50 US states

3. Ocean Buoy Grid — LIVE (NDBC + DART Tsunami)

Monitors ocean conditions using data from NOAA. This panel has four stat boxes, a tsunami subsection, and a map key:

• Available (orange) — Total buoy stations in the NDBC network. These are physical instruments floating in the ocean.
• Active (green) — Buoys that are currently transmitting real-time data right now.
• Warnings (orange) — Stations that have issued a warning (unusual wave height, water temperature, etc.).
• Critical (red) — Stations showing dangerous conditions that could indicate a tsunami, storm surge, or other coastal threat.
• DART Available — Count of Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis stations in the network.
• Coastal Active — Coastal tide gauge stations actively reporting.
• Tsunami Status — Overall tsunami threat level: NORMAL, ADVISORY, WATCH, or WARNING.

4. Wildfire Monitor — LIVE (NASA FIRMS)

Tracks active wildfires across the country using satellite data from NASA and fire weather alerts from NWS:

• Active Hotspots — Total number of fire detections currently seen by satellites.
• Extreme FRP (red) — Fires with a Fire Radiative Power above 100 MW. These are the most intense, dangerous fires.
• High FRP (orange) — Fires with FRP between 50 and 100 MW. Serious fires that could escalate.
• NWS Fire Alerts — Active fire weather alerts from the National Weather Service (red flag warnings, fire weather watches, etc.).

5. Seismic Monitor — LIVE (USGS)

Shows earthquake activity from the last 24 hours using USGS real-time data:

• Events (24h) — Total number of earthquakes detected nationwide in the past day.
• Significant (M4+) — Earthquakes of magnitude 4.0 or greater. These are felt by people and can cause damage.

Individual earthquakes are listed below the stats, color-coded by magnitude:

6. Severe Weather Radar — LIVE (NEXRAD + NWS + SPC)

The most data-dense panel. It tracks tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, and flash floods using three government radar and reporting systems:

Tornado Row

• Tornado Warnings (red) — Active NWS tornado warnings. A tornado warning means a tornado has been sighted or detected on radar. Take shelter immediately.
• Radar Indicated (orange) — Rotation detected by NEXRAD radar that suggests tornado formation but no confirmed sighting yet.
• SPC Confirmed (magenta) — Tornadoes confirmed by the Storm Prediction Center through ground reports or storm spotters.

Storm Row

• SVR Warnings — Severe Thunderstorm Warnings. SVR means damaging winds 58+ mph or hail 1 inch+ in diameter.
• SVR Watches — Severe Thunderstorm Watches. Conditions are favorable for severe storms to develop in the area.
• Flash Flood — Active flash flood warnings. Sudden, dangerous flooding, often from heavy rain.
• SPC Reports — Total confirmed severe weather reports from the Storm Prediction Center (includes tornado, wind, and hail reports from storm spotters).

Observed Extremes

• Max Wind — The highest wind speed reported in any active severe storm.
• Max Hail — The largest hailstone size reported in any active severe storm.

Data Source Indicators

At the bottom of the panel, four boxes show whether each data source is online:

• NEXRAD — The national network of 160 WSR-88D weather radar stations
• NWS — National Weather Service alerts
• SPC — Storm Prediction Center confirmed storm reports
• Scan timestamp — When the last data refresh occurred

7. Quick Actions

A navigation panel with shortcut buttons to other tools: the Wildfire Map, Severe Storm Radar, Ocean Buoy Grid, Disaster Resource Aid board, County Pricing Calculator, and more. These are links, not data panels.

8. Key Metrics — LIVE

A summary dashboard that rolls up the most important numbers from all other panels into a single view:

• States Covered — How many US states the system monitors (50).
• Active Threats Nationwide — Total count of all active alerts across all categories.
• NWS Alerts Active — How many National Weather Service alerts are currently issued.
• NASA FIRMS Hotspots — Total wildfire satellite detections.
• Extreme Fire Hotspots (FRP >100) — The most dangerous fires.
• USGS Seismic Events (24h) — Total earthquake count.
• NDBC Buoy Stations: Available | Active — Side-by-side comparison of total vs. online ocean buoys.
• DART + Coastal Tsunami Stations: Available | Active — Side-by-side comparison of tsunami detection stations.
• Shield Status — Overall system protection status. "Active" means the alert system is fully operational.

9. System Log

A real-time scrolling log of system operations, similar to what you would see on a server console. Each line is timestamped and color-coded:

• Green text (OK) — Successful operation (data fetched, station connected)
• Orange text (WARN) — A warning that does not stop the system but is worth noting
• Gray text — Normal informational log entry

The Dashboard Map is a full-screen interactive map of the United States showing the mesh relay network, alert zones, and station locations. It uses Leaflet (an open-source mapping library) to render data on a dark-themed map.

What You See on the Map

• Colored markers/dots — Each dot represents a station, relay node, or alert location. Color follows the same system: green = active, orange = available/warning, red = critical, gray = offline.
• Circles or polygons — Shaded areas can represent alert zones (e.g., a tornado warning polygon covering a county) or coverage areas.
• Pop-ups — Clicking a marker opens a pop-up with details about that station or alert, including its name, current data readings, and status.

How to Read Station Data

When you click on a station marker, you may see readings like wave height, water temperature, wind speed, or seismic magnitude. These are direct sensor readings from government instruments. The timestamp tells you when the reading was taken.

Map Layers

The dashboard may overlay multiple data types on the same map. For example, you might see ocean buoys (from NDBC), weather alert polygons (from NWS), and fire hotspots (from NASA) all at once. This gives emergency managers a unified view of all threats across the country.

The Command Center uses terminology from emergency management, meteorology, and first responder operations. Here is a glossary of terms you may encounter:

Weather & Storm Terms

Ocean & Tsunami Terms

Fire & Wildfire Terms

Seismic / Earthquake Terms

Network & System Terms

Responder Role Terminology

Every number on the Command Center comes from an official US government data source. No data is made up or estimated. Here are the sources:

Small visual indicators appear throughout the Command Center. Here is what each one means:

Panel Badges (top-right corner of each panel)

• LIVE — Data is streaming in real-time from government sources.
• SCANNING — The panel is in the process of fetching new data.
• ALERT — Critical threats have been detected. This badge pulses to draw attention.
• REAL-TIME — Used on the System Log panel to indicate the log is updated live.

Pulsing Green Dot (Header)

The pulsing green dot in the top header bar, next to "PRODUCTION — LIVE DATA," indicates the system is online and connected to all data sources. If this dot stopped pulsing or turned red, it would mean a system issue.

Expand Button (⛶)

Each panel has an expand button in its header. Clicking it makes that panel fill the entire screen (fullscreen mode) so you can see its data in detail. Click again to return to the grid view. This is especially useful when displaying the Command Center on large screens in an emergency operations center.

Refresh All Live Data Button

The red "REFRESH ALL LIVE DATA" button in the header forces all panels to immediately re-fetch data from every government source. Use this when you need the absolute latest numbers right now rather than waiting for the automatic refresh cycle.

When you first open the Command Center, here is the fastest way to assess the situation:

1. Look at the header. Is the green dot pulsing? Does it say "PRODUCTION — LIVE DATA"? If yes, the system is healthy.
2. Check the Alert Status panel (top-left). If the badge says "LIVE" in green, things are calm. If it says "ALERT" in red, scroll through the alerts and read the top one first — it is the most recent or most severe.
3. Scan for red numbers. Across all panels, red numbers mean something critical is happening. Zero red numbers = a quiet day.
4. Check the Key Metrics panel. The "Active Threats Nationwide" number tells you the total threat count. If it is zero or green, the country is in a stable state.
5. Look at the Severe Weather Radar panel. If the tornado warnings count is above zero, that is the most urgent item on the entire board.
6. Check the Wildfire Monitor. If "Extreme FRP" is above zero, there are major fires burning somewhere. Click through to the Wildfire Map for locations.

In summary: green = good, orange = watch, red = act.