Fire near Katavi (TZ)

6.55°S, 30.55°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 13:51	18 MW	2	N
22 October at 13:17	5 MW	1	N21
21 October at 14:50	39 MW	1	Met9
21 October at 13:34	19 MW	3	N21
21 October at 12:49	20 MW	3	N20
20 October at 13:10	5 MW	1	N20
19 October at 01:33	2 MW	1	N21
18 October at 13:48	74 MW	8	N20
18 October at 13:28	50 MW	2	N
18 October at 12:49	23 MW	4	N21
16 October at 13:28	77 MW	6	N21
15 October at 13:47	53 MW	7	N21
15 October at 13:04	9 MW	1	N20
14 October at 14:06	10 MW	2	N21
14 October at 13:21	13 MW	3	N20
14 October at 13:02	2 MW	1	N
14 October at 08:22	8 MW	1	Terra
14 October at 02:05	2 MW	2	N
14 October at 01:29	7 MW	4	N21
14 October at 00:44	8 MW	2	N20
13 October at 15:31	70 MW	3	Aqua
13 October at 13:40	160 MW	20	N20
12 October at 13:04	85 MW	13	N21
12 October at 08:44	7 MW	1	Terra
12 October at 02:05	15 MW	6	N21
12 October at 01:22	15 MW	10	N20
12 October at 01:01	3 MW	2	N
12 October at 00:27	23 MW	4	N21
11 October at 15:55	86 MW	4	Aqua
11 October at 14:17	134 MW	22	N20
11 October at 13:57	462 MW	43	N
11 October at 13:21	323 MW	21	N21
11 October at 01:22	1 MW	2	N
10 October at 14:19	104 MW	21	N
10 October at 13:40	159 MW	20	N21
10 October at 12:56	198 MW	27	N20
10 October at 01:58	2 MW	4	N20
9 October at 20:38	4 MW	1	Terra
9 October at 14:00	89 MW	14	N21
9 October at 13:15	177 MW	19	N20
9 October at 12:56	73 MW	11	N
9 October at 08:25	12 MW	2	Terra
7 October at 13:34	11 MW	2	N
7 October at 12:56	8 MW	1	N21
6 October at 16:01	127 MW	7	Aqua
6 October at 14:12	184 MW	35	N20
6 October at 13:51	370 MW	41	N
6 October at 13:17	209 MW	28	N21
6 October at 01:33	9 MW	7	N20
6 October at 01:16	15 MW	5	N
6 October at 00:37	1 MW	1	N21
5 October at 14:12	35 MW	2	N
5 October at 13:34	90 MW	15	N21
5 October at 12:49	120 MW	12	N20
4 October at 14:29	76 MW	10	N
4 October at 13:53	361 MW	40	N21
4 October at 13:10	327 MW	45	N20
4 October at 12:49	149 MW	10	N
4 October at 08:25	38 MW	5	Terra
4 October at 01:16	1 MW	2	N21
3 October at 15:46	66 MW	5	Aqua
3 October at 14:12	144 MW	11	N21
3 October at 13:28	225 MW	20	N20
3 October at 13:08	142 MW	12	N
3 October at 00:50	1 MW	1	N20
2 October at 15:08	31 MW	1	Aqua
2 October at 13:47	324 MW	38	N20
2 October at 13:28	224 MW	35	N
2 October at 12:49	108 MW	19	N21
2 October at 01:54	5 MW	5	N21
2 October at 01:09	6 MW	6	N20
2 October at 00:50	2 MW	2	N
1 October at 16:10	18 MW	1	Aqua
1 October at 14:06	97 MW	21	N20
1 October at 13:47	312 MW	43	N
1 October at 13:10	212 MW	28	N21
1 October at 01:29	6 MW	10	N20
1 October at 01:07	11 MW	6	N
30 September at 15:29	45 MW	1	Aqua
30 September at 14:04	112 MW	14	N
30 September at 13:28	182 MW	31	N21
30 September at 12:43	50 MW	8	N20
30 September at 01:46	3 MW	5	N20
30 September at 01:29	8 MW	9	N
30 September at 00:50	3 MW	4	N21
29 September at 20:43	8 MW	1	Terra
29 September at 14:23	120 MW	17	N
29 September at 13:48	411 MW	47	N21
29 September at 13:02	485 MW	37	N20
29 September at 12:43	6 MW	1	N
29 September at 08:27	18 MW	3	Terra
29 September at 02:05	1 MW	1	N20
29 September at 01:46	5 MW	5	N
29 September at 01:09	5 MW	4	N21
28 September at 15:53	67 MW	3	Aqua
28 September at 14:06	131 MW	24	N21
28 September at 13:21	198 MW	22	N20
27 September at 13:40	7 MW	1	N20
27 September at 01:03	1 MW	2	N20
26 September at 14:00	55 MW	10	N20
26 September at 13:40	168 MW	29	N
26 September at 13:04	94 MW	16	N21
26 September at 01:22	4 MW	4	N20
26 September at 01:01	3 MW	2	N
25 September at 15:38	8 MW	1	Aqua
25 September at 14:17	47 MW	7	N20
25 September at 13:57	126 MW	17	N
25 September at 13:21	119 MW	13	N21
25 September at 01:39	7 MW	5	N20
25 September at 01:22	10 MW	5	N
25 September at 00:44	5 MW	4	N21
24 September at 14:19	217 MW	19	N
24 September at 13:40	725 MW	59	N21
24 September at 12:56	196 MW	40	N20
24 September at 08:29	58 MW	6	Terra
24 September at 02:01	3 MW	2	N20
24 September at 01:03	3 MW	2	N21
23 September at 15:59	33 MW	3	Aqua
23 September at 14:00	262 MW	46	N21
23 September at 13:15	375 MW	45	N20
23 September at 12:56	61 MW	9	N

8 other fires near Katavi (TZ)

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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