Fire near Katanga (CD)

10.25°S, 27.38°E · first detected on 23 September at 13:13

What the satellites measured

This fire was tracked from 23 September at 13:13 to 22 October at 16:18, that is 29 days, through 444 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 8,180 ha.

Detected extent: 8,180 ha
Cumulative power: 4,768 MW
Peak power, one pixel: 49 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections: 444
Estimated emissions: 5.0 kt of carbon; Carbon burnt in the 0.1 degree cells (about 10 km) around the fire, from 5 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).

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 30 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
22 October at 16:43	13 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 16:33	24 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 16:23	13 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 16:18	30 MW	1	Aqua
22 October at 14:50	104 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 14:35	111 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 14:33	17 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 14:12	52 MW	4	N20
22 October at 14:05	92 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 14:05	138 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 13:51	23 MW	3	N
22 October at 13:35	111 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 13:20	146 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 13:15	45 MW	4	N21
22 October at 13:13	38 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 13:05	203 MW	2	Met10
22 October at 13:03	19 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 12:50	97 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 12:50	143 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 12:35	141 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 12:35	130 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 12:20	205 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 12:20	265 MW	2	Met10
22 October at 12:13	10 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 12:05	127 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 12:05	55 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 11:50	253 MW	2	Met10
22 October at 10:04	91 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 09:49	157 MW	2	Met10
22 October at 09:49	85 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 09:34	137 MW	2	Met10
22 October at 09:19	68 MW	1	Met9
21 October at 15:13	21 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 15:03	33 MW	2	Met12
21 October at 14:29	74 MW	9	N20
21 October at 14:10	78 MW	8	N
21 October at 12:13	19 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 14:29	3 MW	1	N
20 October at 13:51	11 MW	2	N21
19 October at 14:12	100 MW	11	N21
19 October at 13:28	75 MW	10	N20
19 October at 13:08	9 MW	1	N
19 October at 01:35	2 MW	1	N21
19 October at 00:52	1 MW	1	N20
18 October at 14:29	90 MW	8	N21
18 October at 13:47	71 MW	7	N20
18 October at 13:25	121 MW	9	N
18 October at 12:49	53 MW	5	N21
17 October at 14:04	88 MW	8	N20
17 October at 13:47	138 MW	12	N
17 October at 13:08	188 MW	23	N21
17 October at 08:42	15 MW	2	Terra
16 October at 01:48	2 MW	2	N20
16 October at 01:29	1 MW	1	N
16 October at 00:52	5 MW	3	N21
15 October at 14:42	91 MW	9	N20
15 October at 14:21	198 MW	19	N
15 October at 13:47	274 MW	12	N21
15 October at 13:02	85 MW	8	N20
14 October at 16:10	21 MW	2	Aqua
14 October at 14:04	7 MW	1	N21
14 October at 13:21	27 MW	3	N20
14 October at 13:02	11 MW	1	N
13 October at 14:23	12 MW	2	N21
13 October at 13:40	72 MW	7	N20
12 October at 13:02	14 MW	1	N21
11 October at 15:55	17 MW	1	Aqua
11 October at 14:19	10 MW	1	N20
11 October at 13:57	6 MW	2	N
11 October at 13:21	11 MW	2	N21
10 October at 14:36	169 MW	16	N20
10 October at 14:17	257 MW	23	N
10 October at 13:40	193 MW	17	N21
10 October at 12:56	108 MW	7	N20
9 October at 16:16	30 MW	1	Aqua
9 October at 14:36	34 MW	6	N
9 October at 13:57	112 MW	9	N21
9 October at 13:13	18 MW	3	N20
6 October at 14:10	4 MW	1	N20
6 October at 13:51	23 MW	7	N
6 October at 13:15	6 MW	1	N21
3 October at 15:44	25 MW	2	Aqua
3 October at 14:49	5 MW	1	N
3 October at 14:12	58 MW	5	N21
3 October at 13:28	63 MW	8	N20
3 October at 13:08	106 MW	8	N
2 October at 14:29	19 MW	2	N21
2 October at 13:25	50 MW	5	N
1 October at 16:08	20 MW	1	Aqua
1 October at 14:04	3 MW	1	N20
30 September at 13:28	31 MW	2	N21
29 September at 14:21	13 MW	3	N
29 September at 13:47	11 MW	2	N21
26 September at 16:14	13 MW	1	Aqua
26 September at 13:57	106 MW	3	N20
26 September at 13:38	66 MW	6	N
26 September at 13:02	72 MW	5	N21
25 September at 14:19	121 MW	12	N20
25 September at 13:57	79 MW	6	N
25 September at 13:21	31 MW	4	N21
24 September at 14:36	15 MW	3	N20
24 September at 14:17	40 MW	5	N
24 September at 13:40	120 MW	6	N21
24 September at 12:56	27 MW	2	N20

8 other fires near Katanga (CD)

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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