[THPT 2023] What is the passage mainly about? A startup company in New Mexico

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on you answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions

As wildfire season raged in California this fall, a startup a few states away used artificial intelligence to pinpoint the location of blazes there within minutes — in some cases far faster than these fires might otherwise be noticed by firefighters or civilians.

The company, which uses AI to analyze satellite imagery, launched its US wildfire detector in July. The company’s AI software pores over images coming in roughly every few minutes from two different US government weather satellites, in search of any changes — the presence of smoke, a shift in thermal infrared data showing hot spots — that could indicate a fire has ignited.

Descartes is testing its detector by sending alerts to select forestry officials in its home state of New Mexico and told CNN Business its wildfire detector has spotted about 6,200 total thus far. The company says it can often detect these fires when they’re just about 10 acres in size. It’s a big change from how fires are often spotted in the US. Current methods include looking for fires via planes or lookout towers, or simply having civilians report them.

Beyond that, the alerts can help first responders arrive more quickly, too. While a motorist or airplane pilot may call in a smoke report for a general area, Descartes’ text-based tool narrows down where the fire is. “That’s very beneficial,” Griego said, “especially at night when it’s hard to determine what mountain range this fire’s actually on when you’re on top of a peak 20 miles away.”

Caitlin Kontgis, an applied science team lead at Descartes, said the company is now starting to look at how additional data might help it track fires, such as digital elevation models showing the locations of steep slopes that would make it harder to fight a blaze.

Câu hỏi:

What is the passage mainly about?

• 
  A.
  A startup company in New Mexico
• 
  B.
  How AI is helping spot wildfires faster
• 
  C.
  Firefighting efforts in the US
• 
  D.
  Current methods of detecting wildfires