Fire near Katanga (CD)

9.64°S, 28.26°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 17:43	10 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 17:33	18 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 16:43	13 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 16:33	18 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 16:18	17 MW	1	Aqua
22 October at 15:43	30 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 15:33	27 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 15:23	41 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 15:05	50 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 14:35	115 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 14:20	51 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 14:20	30 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 14:12	43 MW	8	N20
22 October at 14:05	88 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 14:05	83 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 13:51	104 MW	13	N
22 October at 13:50	79 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 13:35	103 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 13:15	117 MW	16	N21
22 October at 12:53	47 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 12:35	63 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 12:35	128 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 12:20	91 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 12:20	69 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 12:05	133 MW	2	Met10
22 October at 12:05	63 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 11:50	65 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 11:23	97 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 11:04	64 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 10:49	286 MW	3	Met10
22 October at 10:34	56 MW	1	Met10
21 October at 15:20	35 MW	1	Met9
21 October at 15:05	39 MW	1	Met9
21 October at 14:50	76 MW	2	Met9
21 October at 14:35	62 MW	1	Met9
21 October at 14:10	33 MW	5	N
21 October at 13:50	120 MW	2	Met9
21 October at 13:34	28 MW	4	N21
20 October at 13:51	31 MW	4	N21
19 October at 13:28	66 MW	7	N20
19 October at 13:08	10 MW	2	N
19 October at 01:35	1 MW	1	N21
18 October at 14:29	29 MW	3	N21
18 October at 13:47	119 MW	14	N20
18 October at 13:25	24 MW	4	N
18 October at 12:49	39 MW	3	N21
17 October at 14:04	80 MW	15	N20
17 October at 13:47	93 MW	16	N
17 October at 13:08	115 MW	12	N21
17 October at 08:42	10 MW	1	Terra
16 October at 14:04	4 MW	1	N
16 October at 13:28	3 MW	1	N21
15 October at 14:22	41 MW	6	N
15 October at 13:47	70 MW	12	N21
15 October at 13:02	9 MW	2	N20
14 October at 14:42	9 MW	1	N
14 October at 14:04	52 MW	5	N21
14 October at 13:21	54 MW	10	N20
14 October at 13:02	10 MW	2	N
13 October at 15:31	18 MW	1	Aqua
13 October at 14:23	17 MW	3	N21
13 October at 13:40	28 MW	7	N20
12 October at 13:02	22 MW	4	N21
11 October at 14:19	9 MW	3	N20
11 October at 13:57	15 MW	3	N
10 October at 14:36	11 MW	2	N20
10 October at 14:17	63 MW	11	N
10 October at 13:40	86 MW	9	N21
10 October at 12:56	23 MW	5	N20
9 October at 14:36	52 MW	9	N
9 October at 13:57	91 MW	7	N21
9 October at 13:13	55 MW	8	N20
9 October at 12:56	30 MW	4	N
8 October at 14:19	51 MW	4	N21
8 October at 13:34	46 MW	7	N20
8 October at 13:15	18 MW	4	N
7 October at 13:51	58 MW	8	N20
7 October at 13:32	36 MW	4	N
7 October at 12:56	27 MW	3	N21
6 October at 14:12	5 MW	1	N20
5 October at 14:29	5 MW	1	N20
5 October at 14:10	35 MW	5	N
5 October at 13:34	39 MW	7	N21
4 October at 14:29	5 MW	1	N
4 October at 13:51	22 MW	2	N21
4 October at 13:08	30 MW	8	N20
3 October at 13:28	37 MW	7	N20
3 October at 13:08	3 MW	1	N
2 October at 14:29	18 MW	2	N21
2 October at 13:47	106 MW	11	N20
2 October at 13:25	76 MW	11	N
2 October at 12:49	114 MW	5	N21
1 October at 16:08	37 MW	2	Aqua
1 October at 14:04	4 MW	1	N20
30 September at 14:23	36 MW	6	N20
30 September at 14:04	76 MW	10	N
30 September at 13:28	152 MW	15	N21
29 September at 14:21	57 MW	8	N
29 September at 13:47	54 MW	7	N21
29 September at 13:02	45 MW	10	N20
28 September at 14:04	35 MW	5	N21
28 September at 13:19	89 MW	6	N20
26 September at 13:57	100 MW	9	N20
26 September at 13:40	81 MW	10	N
26 September at 13:02	41 MW	7	N21
25 September at 14:19	26 MW	3	N20
25 September at 13:57	37 MW	5	N
25 September at 13:21	4 MW	1	N21
24 September at 14:17	5 MW	1	N
24 September at 13:40	68 MW	8	N21
24 September at 12:56	18 MW	2	N20
23 September at 15:59	25 MW	3	Aqua
23 September at 13:57	18 MW	4	N21
23 September at 13:13	9 MW	1	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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