Fire near Katanga (CD)

9.19°S, 25.95°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 1,970 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 31,831 ha.

Detected extent: 31,831 ha
Cumulative power: 17,911 MW
Peak power, one pixel: 147 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections: 1,970
Estimated emissions: 1.5 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). Published data stop on 21 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 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 17:03	19 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 16:53	36 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 16:43	13 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 16:33	14 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 16:18	74 MW	7	Aqua
22 October at 15:03	11 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 14:53	11 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 14:43	12 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 14:35	58 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 14:33	14 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 14:20	62 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 14:13	12 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 14:12	187 MW	24	N20
22 October at 14:05	141 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 14:03	11 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 13:51	182 MW	28	N
22 October at 13:17	172 MW	18	N21
22 October at 13:05	83 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 12:50	90 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 12:35	86 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 12:20	97 MW	1	Met9
21 October at 14:50	83 MW	1	Met10
21 October at 14:29	21 MW	4	N20
21 October at 14:10	103 MW	14	N
21 October at 13:43	11 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 13:34	117 MW	11	N21
21 October at 13:03	48 MW	2	Met12
21 October at 10:33	11 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 09:43	12 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 14:29	28 MW	4	N
20 October at 13:51	123 MW	14	N21
20 October at 13:33	25 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 14:12	27 MW	5	N21
19 October at 13:28	98 MW	12	N20
19 October at 13:08	7 MW	1	N
19 October at 01:35	1 MW	1	N21
18 October at 14:29	28 MW	4	N21
18 October at 13:47	97 MW	17	N20
18 October at 13:27	64 MW	10	N
17 October at 14:06	205 MW	37	N20
17 October at 13:47	124 MW	18	N
17 October at 13:08	40 MW	7	N21
16 October at 15:46	7 MW	1	Aqua
16 October at 14:04	40 MW	11	N
15 October at 13:47	27 MW	3	N21
14 October at 16:10	39 MW	4	Aqua
14 October at 14:42	23 MW	5	N
14 October at 14:06	163 MW	18	N21
14 October at 13:21	256 MW	18	N20
13 October at 14:23	8 MW	2	N21
13 October at 13:40	6 MW	1	N20
11 October at 15:55	192 MW	6	Aqua
11 October at 14:17	236 MW	30	N20
11 October at 13:57	327 MW	41	N
11 October at 13:21	204 MW	20	N21
10 October at 14:36	99 MW	10	N20
10 October at 14:18	280 MW	26	N
10 October at 13:40	539 MW	34	N21
9 October at 16:16	240 MW	16	Aqua
9 October at 14:36	201 MW	37	N
9 October at 13:58	415 MW	45	N21
9 October at 13:15	157 MW	28	N20
7 October at 14:36	17 MW	2	N21
7 October at 13:51	345 MW	51	N20
7 October at 13:34	261 MW	34	N
7 October at 12:56	86 MW	9	N21
6 October at 16:01	72 MW	8	Aqua
6 October at 14:12	259 MW	33	N20
6 October at 13:51	234 MW	38	N
6 October at 13:17	249 MW	22	N21
5 October at 14:29	29 MW	6	N20
5 October at 14:10	24 MW	4	N
5 October at 13:34	141 MW	17	N21
4 October at 13:51	47 MW	9	N21
4 October at 01:54	1 MW	1	N
3 October at 14:49	14 MW	3	N
3 October at 14:12	185 MW	25	N21
3 October at 13:28	144 MW	24	N20
3 October at 13:08	12 MW	2	N
2 October at 14:29	25 MW	4	N21
2 October at 13:47	115 MW	17	N20
2 October at 13:25	45 MW	10	N
1 October at 13:47	10 MW	2	N
29 September at 14:42	31 MW	4	N20
29 September at 14:23	148 MW	20	N
29 September at 13:47	82 MW	10	N21
29 September at 13:02	6 MW	1	N20
28 September at 14:06	8 MW	1	N21
27 September at 01:48	2 MW	2	N21
27 September at 01:03	5 MW	2	N20
26 September at 16:14	260 MW	8	Aqua
26 September at 13:57	168 MW	30	N20
26 September at 13:40	210 MW	31	N
26 September at 13:02	109 MW	11	N21
25 September at 15:38	62 MW	3	Aqua
25 September at 14:19	648 MW	55	N20
25 September at 13:57	707 MW	74	N
25 September at 13:21	386 MW	43	N21
24 September at 20:45	31 MW	1	Terra
24 September at 14:36	312 MW	40	N20
24 September at 14:17	646 MW	43	N
24 September at 13:40	585 MW	44	N21

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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