Over the last month the U.S. has carried out several interdiction strikes on narco-trafficking boats in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean. These are usually acknowledged the next day, described vaguely as “in international waters,” with no coordinates. I’ve been experimenting with NASA’s VIIRS thermal anomaly feed (FIRMS) to see if any of these events are visible as they happen.
https://preview.redd.it/xudkavdw0jzf1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=15582a6952deb90dcf9d014a4173b0c523ebd987
On Oct 27, a single daytime VIIRS hotspot appears at 14.0387° N, 106.4606° W, which is roughly 415 nautical miles southwest of Acapulco. It’s the only ocean pixel in that sector for the entire week. Mexico’s subsequent statements referenced search and rescue ~400 nm SW of Acapulco after that day’s operations. The geometry lines up almost perfectly.
https://preview.redd.it/z4nk46ox0jzf1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=95de0ab7a01b5688f687cf439e52af6be6f26f99
Why I think this specific detection is the Oct 27 strike: the public footage released by the U.S. shows a large explosion with an ongoing flame in daylight—exactly the type of surface combustion a daytime VIIRS pass can catch. The spot is far from known offshore platforms or refinery flare fields, and I filtered out land fires and industrial sources before scanning. I’m ~90% confident this pixel is the Oct 27 event.
https://preview.redd.it/hnryod1z0jzf1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=d5c97138b50056839cd0689503b9f05920427e54
If you want to replicate: set FIRMS to VIIRS 375 m, date 2025-10-27, pan to the Eastern Pacific off Mexico, and you’ll see the detection with its timestamp and FRP. Measure from Acapulco and you’ll get ~415 nm. It does not recur on adjacent days at that exact location, which argues against a persistent industrial source.
None of this claims intent; it’s simply “thermal anomaly consistent with a fire” in the precise place and time later described by authorities. The interesting part is methodological: with FIRMS alone—no paid feeds—you can narrow vague “international waters” language to a concrete lat/lon box in near-real time. That has obvious implications for open-source monitoring and for how quickly journalists and analysts can geolocate future incidents.
I’m happy to hear counter-arguments—e.g., alternative explanations for a one-off daytime ocean pixel at those coordinates—but based on the match to the reported location, the unique nature of the detection, and the daylight, high-energy fire profile, I think this one’s a hit.
https://preview.redd.it/bsmhlrm11jzf1.png?width=480&format=png&auto=webp&s=c7db45f505fc502a5915041d63973f37e33de191
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