Fire near Centrale (ZM)

14.68°S, 25.68°E · first detected on 20 October at 16:03

What the satellites measured

This fire was tracked from 20 October at 16:03 to 23 October at 02:03, that is 2 days, through 58 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 1,009 ha.

Detected extent
1,009 ha
Cumulative power
385 MW
Peak power, one pixel
41 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections
58
Estimated emissions
1.7 kt of carbon
Carbon burnt in the 0.1 degree cells (about 10 km) around the fire, from 20 October 2026 to 22 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). Published data stop on 22 October 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 5 days; beyond that, clustering would merge two successive fires in the same place.

Fire dynamics

Loading history…

Satellite passes in detail

PassPower summed over the passDetectionsSensor
23 October at 02:0310 MW2N21
23 October at 01:1810 MW5N20
23 October at 00:594 MW2N
22 October at 22:1310 MW1Met12
22 October at 21:4322 MW1Met12
22 October at 17:5310 MW1Met12
22 October at 17:1312 MW1Met12
22 October at 17:0521 MW1Met9
22 October at 16:33173 MW4Met12
22 October at 16:1641 MW1Aqua
22 October at 13:1532 MW3N21
22 October at 12:5349 MW2Met12
22 October at 12:4389 MW4Met12
22 October at 12:2324 MW1Met12
22 October at 11:5338 MW3Met12
22 October at 11:4987 MW1Met10
22 October at 11:4975 MW1Met9
22 October at 11:2313 MW1Met12
22 October at 11:1949 MW1Met9
22 October at 11:1326 MW2Met12
22 October at 10:5343 MW2Met12
22 October at 10:4954 MW1Met10
22 October at 10:4952 MW1Met9
22 October at 10:43156 MW4Met12
22 October at 10:34234 MW3Met9
22 October at 10:34215 MW2Met10
22 October at 10:33153 MW6Met12
22 October at 10:23238 MW7Met12
22 October at 10:19389 MW4Met10
22 October at 10:19332 MW3Met9
22 October at 10:13456 MW7Met12
22 October at 10:04658 MW4Met10
22 October at 10:04563 MW4Met9
22 October at 10:03415 MW6Met12
22 October at 09:53545 MW9Met12
22 October at 09:49242 MW3Met9
22 October at 09:49263 MW4Met10
22 October at 09:43156 MW4Met12
22 October at 09:3313 MW1Met12
22 October at 08:425 MW1Terra
22 October at 02:2230 MW2N21
22 October at 01:376 MW2N20
22 October at 01:187 MW1N
22 October at 00:408 MW3N21
21 October at 14:2726 MW4N20
21 October at 14:1065 MW13N
21 October at 13:53104 MW3Met12
21 October at 13:32103 MW7N21
21 October at 13:19361 MW2Met9
21 October at 13:1328 MW1Met12
21 October at 13:0444 MW1Met9
21 October at 13:0385 MW4Met12
21 October at 12:4350 MW2Met12
21 October at 12:34166 MW3Met9
21 October at 12:3454 MW1Met10
21 October at 12:3395 MW3Met12
21 October at 12:23102 MW6Met12
21 October at 12:19388 MW4Met9
21 October at 12:19368 MW3Met10
21 October at 12:13177 MW5Met12
21 October at 12:04392 MW4Met10
21 October at 12:04182 MW2Met9
21 October at 12:03201 MW6Met12
21 October at 11:5385 MW3Met12
21 October at 11:49123 MW2Met9
21 October at 11:43199 MW6Met12
21 October at 11:34972 MW5Met9
21 October at 11:34847 MW5Met10
21 October at 11:33616 MW10Met12
21 October at 11:23178 MW4Met12
21 October at 11:1960 MW1Met9
21 October at 11:19118 MW2Met10
21 October at 11:13172 MW5Met12
21 October at 11:04655 MW4Met10
21 October at 11:04858 MW6Met9
21 October at 11:03578 MW8Met12
21 October at 10:53187 MW4Met12
21 October at 10:49707 MW5Met9
21 October at 10:49782 MW6Met10
21 October at 10:43446 MW6Met12
21 October at 10:34477 MW5Met10
21 October at 10:34195 MW2Met9
21 October at 10:3398 MW3Met12
21 October at 10:2337 MW1Met12
21 October at 10:19181 MW3Met10
21 October at 10:19116 MW2Met9
21 October at 10:13155 MW5Met12
21 October at 10:0357 MW2Met12
21 October at 09:5375 MW3Met12
21 October at 09:4963 MW1Met9
21 October at 09:4974 MW1Met10
21 October at 09:1360 MW4Met12
21 October at 09:0317 MW1Met12
21 October at 04:1323 MW1Met12
21 October at 04:0328 MW2Met12
21 October at 01:568 MW5N20
21 October at 01:3511 MW4N
21 October at 01:3313 MW1Met12
21 October at 01:2313 MW1Met12
21 October at 01:1340 MW3Met12
21 October at 01:0110 MW2N21
20 October at 21:159 MW1Terra
20 October at 18:0311 MW1Met12
20 October at 16:0311 MW1Met12

8 other fires near Centrale (ZM)

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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