Fire near Katanga (CD)

8.16°S, 26.55°E

What the satellites measured

This fire is not in the last thirty days of the fire list, but detections remain around this point: the curve below is rebuilt from the raw pixels, which are kept for a hundred days.

“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 15:03	21 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 14:43	28 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 14:33	12 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 14:12	175 MW	27	N20
22 October at 14:03	14 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 13:53	13 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 13:51	273 MW	49	N
22 October at 13:23	54 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 13:17	425 MW	50	N21
22 October at 13:03	27 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 11:53	11 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 11:33	13 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 11:13	12 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 10:33	15 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 10:13	40 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 10:03	116 MW	7	Met12
22 October at 09:53	25 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 09:43	34 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 09:33	64 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 09:23	29 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 09:13	13 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 18:13	15 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 18:03	75 MW	3	Met12
21 October at 17:53	58 MW	3	Met12
21 October at 17:43	61 MW	3	Met12
21 October at 17:33	24 MW	2	Met12
21 October at 16:43	10 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 16:13	14 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 16:03	12 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 14:53	13 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 14:29	22 MW	4	N20
21 October at 14:20	56 MW	1	Met9
21 October at 14:10	134 MW	22	N
21 October at 13:53	17 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 13:34	81 MW	9	N21
21 October at 10:13	20 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 10:03	15 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 09:53	15 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 09:43	39 MW	3	Met12
20 October at 13:51	20 MW	3	N21
20 October at 13:10	133 MW	22	N20
20 October at 12:53	21 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 12:43	77 MW	3	Met12
20 October at 12:33	59 MW	2	Met12
19 October at 16:03	66 MW	5	Aqua
19 October at 14:12	467 MW	46	N21
19 October at 13:28	300 MW	40	N20
19 October at 13:08	135 MW	22	N
18 October at 14:29	230 MW	24	N21
18 October at 13:47	725 MW	116	N20
18 October at 13:28	981 MW	74	N
18 October at 12:49	155 MW	14	N21
17 October at 20:58	5 MW	1	Terra
17 October at 14:06	417 MW	67	N20
17 October at 13:47	316 MW	47	N
17 October at 13:10	222 MW	36	N21
15 October at 14:23	13 MW	3	N
15 October at 13:47	96 MW	19	N21
14 October at 16:10	226 MW	14	Aqua
14 October at 14:42	209 MW	28	N
14 October at 14:06	790 MW	108	N21
14 October at 13:21	450 MW	55	N20
14 October at 13:02	156 MW	15	N
13 October at 13:40	4 MW	1	N20
12 October at 13:02	23 MW	2	N21
11 October at 14:17	68 MW	9	N20
11 October at 13:57	128 MW	24	N
11 October at 13:21	36 MW	7	N21
10 October at 14:36	48 MW	6	N20
10 October at 14:19	225 MW	38	N
10 October at 13:40	374 MW	62	N21
10 October at 12:56	49 MW	7	N20
9 October at 16:16	43 MW	3	Aqua
9 October at 14:36	87 MW	15	N
9 October at 14:00	252 MW	28	N21
9 October at 13:15	61 MW	9	N20
7 October at 13:51	728 MW	85	N20
7 October at 13:34	510 MW	49	N
7 October at 12:56	101 MW	9	N21
6 October at 16:01	189 MW	15	Aqua
6 October at 14:12	864 MW	111	N20
6 October at 13:51	827 MW	103	N
6 October at 13:17	1,071 MW	99	N21
5 October at 14:29	136 MW	20	N20
5 October at 14:10	343 MW	45	N
5 October at 13:34	513 MW	56	N21
4 October at 13:51	666 MW	71	N21
4 October at 13:08	114 MW	21	N20
3 October at 14:49	72 MW	5	N
3 October at 14:12	356 MW	35	N21
3 October at 13:28	514 MW	73	N20
3 October at 13:08	244 MW	29	N
2 October at 14:29	113 MW	12	N21
2 October at 13:47	286 MW	47	N20
2 October at 13:27	186 MW	27	N
2 October at 12:49	100 MW	9	N21
29 September at 14:43	169 MW	15	N20
29 September at 14:23	637 MW	59	N
29 September at 13:47	703 MW	86	N21
29 September at 13:02	342 MW	27	N20
28 September at 14:06	51 MW	6	N21
28 September at 13:21	26 MW	5	N20
26 September at 16:14	17 MW	2	Aqua
26 September at 13:57	146 MW	13	N20
26 September at 13:40	75 MW	10	N
26 September at 13:02	18 MW	3	N21
25 September at 15:38	55 MW	3	Aqua
25 September at 14:17	488 MW	45	N20
25 September at 13:57	875 MW	118	N
25 September at 13:21	773 MW	61	N21
24 September at 20:45	53 MW	3	Terra
24 September at 14:36	137 MW	13	N20
24 September at 14:17	395 MW	52	N
24 September at 13:40	757 MW	82	N21
24 September at 12:56	230 MW	19	N20
23 September at 15:59	19 MW	1	Aqua
23 September at 14:36	20 MW	4	N
23 September at 14:00	52 MW	11	N21
23 September at 13:13	10 MW	3	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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