Fire near Kunene (AO)

16.08°S, 15.56°E · first detected on 20 October at 14:27

What the satellites measured

This fire was tracked from 20 October at 14:27 to 23 October at 02:05, that is 2 days, through 108 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 1,677 ha.

Detected extent: 1,677 ha
Cumulative power: 3,780 MW
Peak power, one pixel: 276 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections: 108
Estimated emissions: 5.6 kt of carbon; Carbon burnt in the 0.1 degree cells (about 10 km) around the fire, from 20 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 5 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
23 October at 03:00	3 MW	3	N20
23 October at 02:39	5 MW	6	N
23 October at 02:05	3 MW	4	N21
22 October at 18:22	13 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 18:12	24 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 18:02	36 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 17:52	36 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 17:42	34 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 17:34	32 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 17:32	53 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 17:22	48 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 17:12	53 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 17:05	64 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 17:04	44 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 17:02	60 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 16:52	76 MW	5	Met12
22 October at 16:49	67 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 16:49	54 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 16:42	82 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 16:34	68 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 16:34	82 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 16:32	51 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 16:22	162 MW	5	Met12
22 October at 16:19	84 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 16:19	75 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 16:16	156 MW	3	Aqua
22 October at 16:12	136 MW	6	Met12
22 October at 16:04	123 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 16:04	177 MW	3	Met10
22 October at 16:02	142 MW	5	Met12
22 October at 15:52	160 MW	5	Met12
22 October at 15:49	206 MW	3	Met9
22 October at 15:49	224 MW	3	Met10
22 October at 15:42	237 MW	8	Met12
22 October at 15:34	412 MW	4	Met9
22 October at 15:34	470 MW	4	Met10
22 October at 15:32	391 MW	10	Met12
22 October at 15:31	375 MW	17	N
22 October at 15:22	529 MW	10	Met12
22 October at 15:19	525 MW	3	Met9
22 October at 15:19	768 MW	6	Met10
22 October at 15:12	1,170 MW	11	Met12
22 October at 15:04	1,036 MW	4	Met9
22 October at 15:04	757 MW	6	Met10
22 October at 15:02	1,201 MW	11	Met12
22 October at 14:53	2,263 MW	25	N21
22 October at 14:52	1,914 MW	15	Met12
22 October at 14:49	822 MW	3	Met9
22 October at 14:49	420 MW	3	Met10
22 October at 14:42	2,392 MW	15	Met12
22 October at 14:34	676 MW	6	Met10
22 October at 14:34	1,108 MW	5	Met9
22 October at 14:32	1,665 MW	11	Met12
22 October at 14:22	761 MW	14	Met12
22 October at 14:19	783 MW	5	Met9
22 October at 14:19	506 MW	5	Met10
22 October at 14:12	103 MW	6	Met12
22 October at 14:10	250 MW	12	N20
22 October at 14:04	52 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 14:02	186 MW	9	Met12
22 October at 13:52	30 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 13:49	49 MW	6	N
22 October at 13:42	60 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 13:32	101 MW	6	Met12
22 October at 13:22	37 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 13:12	75 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 13:02	60 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 12:52	156 MW	7	Met12
22 October at 12:49	92 MW	2	Met10
22 October at 12:49	105 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 12:42	83 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 12:32	51 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 12:22	11 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 12:02	47 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 11:42	23 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 11:34	36 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 11:32	70 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 09:52	14 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 16:12	50 MW	2	Met12
21 October at 14:32	25 MW	2	Met12
21 October at 14:27	25 MW	3	N20
21 October at 14:12	60 MW	2	Met12
21 October at 14:10	41 MW	4	N
21 October at 13:52	12 MW	1	Met12

8 other fires near Kunene (AO)

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.

Follow live

The map shows active fires in 3D, with smoke plumes, forecast wind, drop zones and the live position of water bombers tracked by ADS-B, anywhere in the world.

Open the fire map

Take the data of this fire with you

A ready-to-use archive, paid once, no subscription. It contains:

the satellite detections of the fire
the contours of its progression
the drops and the aircraft tracks
the lightning around it
the severity of the burned area, when computed

From €20.00 excl. VAT, six formats to choose from, link valid for 30 days.

Download the data

Pro subscribers: included. €49 excl. VAT a month, no commitment. The public map stays free. Discover GISFire Pro

© 2026 SARO · Gistin. All rights reserved. The interface, its presentation and the contents of GISFire are protected; reproducing or imitating them requires written permission. The source data remain the property of their respective producers, see the credits.

Legal notice · Privacy policy · · GISFire v2.4.2