Fire near Benguela (AO)

12.12°S, 14.04°E · first detected on 23 September at 13:57

What the satellites measured

This fire was tracked from 23 September at 13:57 to 10 October at 14:36, that is 17 days, through 80 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 1,515 ha.

Detected extent: 1,515 ha
Cumulative power: 546 MW
Peak power, one pixel: 20 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections: 80
Estimated emissions: 736 t of carbon; Carbon burnt in the 0.1 degree cells (about 10 km) around the fire, from 5 October 2026 to 10 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 20 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
11 October at 14:19	25 MW	6	N20
10 October at 16:54	27 MW	6	Aqua
10 October at 15:21	288 MW	21	N21
10 October at 14:36	259 MW	53	N20
10 October at 14:17	120 MW	20	N
10 October at 13:40	30 MW	2	N21
9 October at 14:55	132 MW	15	N20
9 October at 14:36	134 MW	16	N
9 October at 13:57	29 MW	4	N21
8 October at 15:14	620 MW	72	N20
8 October at 14:53	753 MW	154	N
8 October at 14:19	1,361 MW	99	N21
7 October at 16:40	155 MW	6	Aqua
7 October at 15:31	16 MW	2	N20
7 October at 15:14	151 MW	15	N
7 October at 14:36	124 MW	18	N21
7 October at 13:51	115 MW	11	N20
6 October at 15:31	405 MW	42	N
6 October at 14:55	524 MW	50	N21
6 October at 14:11	718 MW	29	N20
6 October at 13:51	80 MW	6	N
5 October at 16:59	138 MW	9	Aqua
5 October at 15:14	657 MW	62	N21
5 October at 14:29	720 MW	88	N20
5 October at 14:10	582 MW	55	N
4 October at 16:22	356 MW	7	Aqua
4 October at 15:31	94 MW	5	N21
4 October at 14:47	662 MW	102	N20
4 October at 14:29	611 MW	66	N
4 October at 13:51	359 MW	32	N21
3 October at 17:22	38 MW	1	Aqua
3 October at 15:08	651 MW	74	N20
3 October at 14:49	990 MW	121	N
3 October at 14:12	685 MW	79	N21
2 October at 16:44	26 MW	2	Aqua
2 October at 15:25	392 MW	44	N20
2 October at 15:07	1,097 MW	91	N
2 October at 14:29	927 MW	112	N21
1 October at 15:25	319 MW	60	N
1 October at 14:51	719 MW	74	N21
1 October at 14:04	121 MW	26	N20
30 September at 17:07	117 MW	8	Aqua
30 September at 15:44	125 MW	12	N
30 September at 15:08	385 MW	34	N21
30 September at 14:23	213 MW	20	N20
30 September at 14:04	182 MW	14	N
29 September at 16:29	72 MW	3	Aqua
29 September at 15:25	247 MW	20	N21
29 September at 14:42	800 MW	107	N20
29 September at 14:21	331 MW	46	N
29 September at 13:47	165 MW	16	N21
28 September at 15:01	490 MW	66	N20
28 September at 14:04	506 MW	48	N21
27 September at 16:52	67 MW	8	Aqua
27 September at 15:21	92 MW	15	N20
27 September at 14:59	370 MW	47	N
27 September at 14:23	366 MW	47	N21
26 September at 16:14	32 MW	1	Aqua
26 September at 15:38	56 MW	2	N20
26 September at 15:21	947 MW	50	N
26 September at 14:42	621 MW	74	N21
26 September at 13:57	473 MW	47	N20
26 September at 02:45	1 MW	1	N
26 September at 02:07	1 MW	1	N21
25 September at 17:14	12 MW	1	Aqua
25 September at 15:38	363 MW	34	N
25 September at 15:01	590 MW	64	N21
25 September at 14:18	428 MW	56	N20
25 September at 13:57	71 MW	8	N
24 September at 16:37	70 MW	3	Aqua
24 September at 15:21	231 MW	26	N21
24 September at 14:36	425 MW	56	N20
24 September at 14:17	259 MW	28	N
24 September at 13:40	133 MW	6	N21
23 September at 14:54	1,277 MW	191	N20
23 September at 14:36	1,243 MW	153	N
23 September at 13:57	784 MW	83	N21
22 September at 16:59	236 MW	23	Aqua
22 September at 15:14	790 MW	73	N20
22 September at 14:53	1,129 MW	133	N
22 September at 14:19	792 MW	67	N21
21 September at 16:20	166 MW	5	Aqua
21 September at 15:31	935 MW	82	N20
21 September at 15:14	1,342 MW	183	N

7 other fires near Benguela (AO)

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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