Fire near Afar (ET)

11.53°N, 41.35°E · first detected on 24 September at 12:43

What the satellites measured

This fire was tracked from 24 September at 12:43 to 21 October at 11:58, that is 27 days, through 265 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 4,136 ha.

Detected extent: 4,136 ha
Cumulative power: 3,728 MW
Peak power, one pixel: 177 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections: 265
Estimated emissions: 8.9 kt of carbon; Carbon burnt in the 0.1 degree cells (about 10 km) around the fire, from 5 October 2026 to 21 October 2026. An order-of-magnitude estimate from GFAS (ECMWF, Copernicus CAMS): it also counts neighbouring fires in the same cell. Contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information (2026).

These four figures cover the polar orbits alone, the ones that measure an area. The pass table below also counts geostationary detections, more frequent but too coarse for geometry, and its power column sums a whole pass where the peak above is that of a single pixel.

“Detected extent” is not “burned area”: it is the union of the ground footprints of the satellite pixels, and a pixel counts in full (375 m for VIIRS, 1 km for MODIS) even when only a forest edge is burning. Compared with press figures it is in practice one and a half to three times the area reported. Detections taken at the edge of the scan swath, too coarse to measure anything at all, are excluded. These figures come from thermal detection and are not an official assessment: only the emergency services and the competent authorities are authoritative.

Replay how the fire spread

The map is framed on this fire's footprint and loads only its detections. The timeline below covers the period in which satellites saw it, from the first to the last detection, with twelve hours before and twenty-four after; the ticks on the bar mark the emergency services' announcements that fall within it. The cursor opens on the most powerful pass, and playback replays the whole fire in about thirty seconds. “1 h” shows what is burning within an hour of the chosen moment : the map then follows the power curve below and empties when it falls. “24 h” stacks twenty-four hours : a fire stays visible between two satellite passes, which come two to four times a day. Both are true, but they say different things.

How the radiative power evolved

One point per satellite pass: the sum of the fire radiative power measured over the fire. This is the curve that says whether the fire eased off or picked up again, which no cumulative figure shows. The window covers 29 days; beyond that, clustering would merge two successive fires in the same place.

Fire dynamics

Loading history…

Satellite passes in detail

Pass	Power summed over the pass	Detections	Sensor
21 October at 11:58	7 MW	1	N21
20 October at 15:35	11 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 15:25	25 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 15:15	26 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 14:35	13 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 14:25	30 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 14:22	48 MW	1	Met9
20 October at 13:15	81 MW	7	N20
20 October at 13:05	43 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 12:55	54 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 12:53	105 MW	6	N
20 October at 12:45	35 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 12:37	72 MW	1	Met9
20 October at 12:35	82 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 12:25	74 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 12:22	123 MW	2	Met9
20 October at 12:22	79 MW	1	Met10
20 October at 12:17	243 MW	3	N21
20 October at 12:15	104 MW	3	Met12
20 October at 12:07	118 MW	2	Met9
20 October at 12:05	188 MW	5	Met12
20 October at 11:56	190 MW	5	Met12
20 October at 11:52	184 MW	2	Met10
20 October at 11:52	282 MW	4	Met9
20 October at 11:46	334 MW	6	Met12
20 October at 11:37	700 MW	5	Met9
20 October at 11:37	496 MW	3	Met10
20 October at 11:35	445 MW	5	Met12
20 October at 11:25	274 MW	4	Met12
20 October at 11:22	583 MW	4	Met9
20 October at 11:22	149 MW	1	Met10
20 October at 11:15	60 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 01:09	2 MW	2	N21
20 October at 00:27	12 MW	4	N20
20 October at 00:08	5 MW	2	N
19 October at 23:35	13 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 17:45	50 MW	2	Met12
19 October at 16:05	20 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 15:45	71 MW	2	Met12
19 October at 15:38	303 MW	4	Met9
19 October at 15:37	204 MW	2	Met10
19 October at 15:35	32 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 00:46	1 MW	1	N20
18 October at 12:56	51 MW	5	N21
18 October at 12:13	29 MW	2	N20
18 October at 11:52	7 MW	2	N
17 October at 13:13	238 MW	9	N21
17 October at 12:30	168 MW	8	N20
17 October at 12:11	219 MW	9	N
16 October at 12:47	9 MW	1	N20
16 October at 11:52	6 MW	1	N21
15 October at 12:47	16 MW	2	N
15 October at 12:13	10 MW	2	N21
14 October at 12:30	10 MW	1	N21
13 October at 12:04	6 MW	2	N20
12 October at 14:59	64 MW	1	Aqua
12 October at 13:08	40 MW	5	N21
12 October at 12:04	41 MW	3	N
12 October at 01:16	34 MW	9	N20
12 October at 00:59	62 MW	13	N
12 October at 00:20	92 MW	12	N21
11 October at 13:25	124 MW	6	N21
11 October at 12:41	98 MW	6	N20
11 October at 12:21	49 MW	4	N
11 October at 11:45	35 MW	3	N21
10 October at 19:47	14 MW	1	Terra
10 October at 12:04	25 MW	3	N21
10 October at 00:59	1 MW	1	N21
10 October at 00:14	1 MW	2	N20
9 October at 14:44	54 MW	3	Aqua
9 October at 13:19	88 MW	8	N20
9 October at 13:00	108 MW	4	N
9 October at 12:24	65 MW	4	N21
7 October at 12:17	32 MW	4	N20
7 October at 11:58	12 MW	3	N
6 October at 11:39	17 MW	2	N21
4 October at 14:49	82 MW	2	Aqua
3 October at 00:25	1 MW	1	N
2 October at 15:12	16 MW	1	Aqua
2 October at 13:32	26 MW	3	N
2 October at 12:56	48 MW	3	N21
2 October at 12:11	40 MW	2	N20
2 October at 01:03	16 MW	4	N20
2 October at 00:44	11 MW	5	N
2 October at 00:08	28 MW	5	N21
1 October at 14:34	23 MW	1	Aqua
1 October at 13:13	52 MW	3	N21
1 October at 12:30	39 MW	3	N20
1 October at 12:11	21 MW	4	N
1 October at 01:22	10 MW	4	N20
1 October at 01:03	12 MW	7	N
1 October at 00:25	20 MW	5	N21
30 September at 19:49	9 MW	1	Terra
30 September at 12:47	244 MW	8	N20
30 September at 12:28	275 MW	8	N
30 September at 11:52	162 MW	9	N21
30 September at 01:22	6 MW	3	N
30 September at 00:46	13 MW	3	N21
29 September at 14:57	60 MW	1	Aqua
29 September at 13:08	37 MW	1	N20
29 September at 12:47	20 MW	1	N
29 September at 12:13	12 MW	1	N21
27 September at 12:47	52 MW	2	N21
27 September at 12:04	11 MW	2	N20
26 September at 13:08	6 MW	1	N21
25 September at 12:21	12 MW	1	N
24 September at 13:02	28 MW	2	N20
24 September at 12:43	26 MW	2	N

4 other fires near Afar (ET)

Separate fires, apart in time or in space, not pieces of this one. A single municipality can have several over one summer, and a forest massif often covers more than a hundred square kilometres.

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