Fire near Kunene (AO)

16.10°S, 16.39°E · first detected on 7 October at 15:12

What the satellites measured

This fire was tracked from 7 October at 15:12 to 21 October at 14:27, that is 14 days, through 144 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 2,202 ha.

Detected extent: 2,202 ha
Cumulative power: 1,821 MW
Peak power, one pixel: 59 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections: 144
Estimated emissions: 3.4 kt of carbon; Carbon burnt in the 0.1 degree cells (about 10 km) around the fire, from 7 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).

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 16 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
21 October at 14:27	11 MW	1	N20
21 October at 14:10	9 MW	1	N
21 October at 13:52	16 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 10:49	59 MW	1	Met10
21 October at 10:34	56 MW	1	Met10
21 October at 10:19	145 MW	3	Met10
21 October at 10:04	64 MW	1	Met10
21 October at 10:02	44 MW	2	Met12
21 October at 09:49	51 MW	1	Met10
21 October at 09:41	30 MW	1	Terra
21 October at 09:34	41 MW	1	Met10
20 October at 21:22	12 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 18:22	14 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 18:12	14 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 18:02	22 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 17:52	100 MW	4	Met12
20 October at 17:42	129 MW	4	Met12
20 October at 17:32	49 MW	3	Met12
20 October at 17:22	35 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 16:52	39 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 16:12	14 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 16:02	12 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 15:52	16 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 15:49	50 MW	1	Met9
20 October at 15:49	84 MW	2	Met10
20 October at 15:34	51 MW	1	Met9
20 October at 15:19	74 MW	1	Met10
20 October at 15:19	73 MW	1	Met9
20 October at 15:04	60 MW	1	Met9
20 October at 14:49	66 MW	1	Met10
20 October at 14:49	82 MW	1	Met9
20 October at 14:46	177 MW	16	N20
20 October at 14:42	138 MW	4	Met12
20 October at 14:34	51 MW	1	Met10
20 October at 14:34	72 MW	1	Met9
20 October at 14:32	67 MW	4	Met12
20 October at 14:27	160 MW	10	N
20 October at 14:22	173 MW	7	Met12
20 October at 14:19	169 MW	2	Met9
20 October at 14:19	388 MW	4	Met10
20 October at 14:12	468 MW	6	Met12
20 October at 14:04	435 MW	4	Met9
20 October at 14:04	591 MW	4	Met10
20 October at 14:02	525 MW	9	Met12
20 October at 13:52	497 MW	8	Met12
20 October at 13:51	464 MW	20	N21
20 October at 13:49	421 MW	3	Met9
20 October at 13:49	573 MW	4	Met10
20 October at 13:42	231 MW	7	Met12
20 October at 13:34	551 MW	4	Met9
20 October at 13:34	618 MW	4	Met10
20 October at 13:32	460 MW	10	Met12
20 October at 13:22	257 MW	6	Met12
20 October at 13:19	363 MW	3	Met9
20 October at 13:19	502 MW	4	Met10
20 October at 13:12	662 MW	8	Met12
20 October at 13:04	582 MW	4	Met10
20 October at 13:04	613 MW	4	Met9
20 October at 13:02	376 MW	7	Met12
20 October at 12:52	367 MW	7	Met12
20 October at 12:49	243 MW	3	Met9
20 October at 12:49	303 MW	3	Met10
20 October at 12:42	226 MW	7	Met12
20 October at 12:34	127 MW	2	Met10
20 October at 12:34	113 MW	2	Met9
20 October at 12:32	198 MW	5	Met12
20 October at 12:22	192 MW	5	Met12
20 October at 12:19	141 MW	2	Met9
20 October at 12:19	212 MW	3	Met10
20 October at 12:12	100 MW	4	Met12
20 October at 12:04	45 MW	1	Met10
20 October at 12:02	22 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 11:42	14 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 11:34	36 MW	1	Met10
20 October at 11:32	32 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 10:32	11 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 10:22	14 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 15:42	95 MW	3	Met12
19 October at 15:06	41 MW	3	N20
19 October at 14:52	30 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 14:46	45 MW	6	N
19 October at 14:42	13 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 14:32	17 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 14:10	19 MW	2	N21
19 October at 14:02	23 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 13:52	13 MW	1	Met12
18 October at 15:06	65 MW	12	N
18 October at 14:27	213 MW	10	N21
18 October at 13:46	104 MW	9	N20
17 October at 15:23	15 MW	3	N
17 October at 14:49	47 MW	5	N21
17 October at 14:04	33 MW	2	N20
16 October at 15:06	12 MW	2	N21
16 October at 14:21	8 MW	1	N20
16 October at 14:04	5 MW	1	N
15 October at 15:25	6 MW	1	N21
15 October at 14:42	25 MW	5	N20
15 October at 14:21	15 MW	4	N
15 October at 13:45	69 MW	6	N21
14 October at 14:40	10 MW	3	N
14 October at 14:04	54 MW	4	N21
8 October at 01:44	1 MW	1	N21
7 October at 15:31	56 MW	2	N20
7 October at 15:12	6 MW	1	N

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.

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