Fire near Kwando-Kubango (AO)

16.60°S, 19.16°E · first detected on 21 October at 10:52

What the satellites measured

This fire was tracked from 21 October at 10:52 to 22 October at 16:16, through 58 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 1,001 ha.

Detected extent: 1,001 ha
Cumulative power: 1,727 MW
Peak power, one pixel: 293 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections: 58
Estimated emissions: 113 t of carbon; Carbon burnt in the 0.1 degree cells (about 10 km) around the fire, from 21 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 4 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 18:22	12 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 18:12	35 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 18:05	75 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 18:04	83 MW	2	Met10
22 October at 18:02	39 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 17:52	27 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 17:50	134 MW	3	Met9
22 October at 17:49	191 MW	4	Met10
22 October at 17:42	18 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 17:35	36 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 17:34	36 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 17:19	42 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 17:04	32 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 17:04	65 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 17:02	14 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 16:49	82 MW	2	Met10
22 October at 16:49	133 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 16:19	109 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 16:19	141 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 16:16	51 MW	1	Aqua
22 October at 15:12	72 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 15:02	23 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 14:53	286 MW	19	N21
22 October at 14:52	388 MW	5	Met12
22 October at 14:49	462 MW	2	Met10
22 October at 14:42	267 MW	6	Met12
22 October at 14:34	345 MW	4	Met9
22 October at 14:34	110 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 14:32	161 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 14:22	76 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 14:19	970 MW	4	Met9
22 October at 14:12	666 MW	7	Met12
22 October at 14:10	965 MW	16	N20
22 October at 14:04	307 MW	2	Met10
22 October at 14:04	339 MW	3	Met9
22 October at 14:02	288 MW	6	Met12
22 October at 13:52	619 MW	10	Met12
22 October at 13:49	404 MW	18	N
22 October at 13:49	468 MW	3	Met10
22 October at 13:49	716 MW	4	Met9
22 October at 13:42	892 MW	9	Met12
22 October at 13:34	747 MW	4	Met9
22 October at 13:34	643 MW	5	Met10
22 October at 13:32	751 MW	11	Met12
22 October at 13:22	291 MW	8	Met12
22 October at 13:19	460 MW	4	Met10
22 October at 13:19	490 MW	3	Met9
22 October at 13:12	421 MW	10	Met12
22 October at 13:04	633 MW	3	Met9
22 October at 13:04	353 MW	3	Met10
22 October at 13:02	347 MW	8	Met12
22 October at 12:52	329 MW	9	Met12
22 October at 12:49	199 MW	2	Met10
22 October at 12:49	208 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 12:42	129 MW	6	Met12
22 October at 12:32	19 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 12:22	224 MW	8	Met12
22 October at 12:19	115 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 12:19	198 MW	2	Met10
22 October at 12:12	119 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 12:04	404 MW	3	Met9
22 October at 12:04	480 MW	3	Met10
22 October at 12:02	367 MW	8	Met12
22 October at 11:52	76 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 11:49	80 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 11:49	140 MW	2	Met10
22 October at 11:42	479 MW	7	Met12
22 October at 11:34	263 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 11:34	358 MW	3	Met10
22 October at 11:32	212 MW	5	Met12
22 October at 11:22	222 MW	5	Met12
22 October at 11:19	162 MW	2	Met10
22 October at 11:19	87 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 11:12	85 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 11:04	51 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 11:02	121 MW	5	Met12
22 October at 10:52	25 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 10:42	49 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 10:32	15 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 10:22	17 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 10:12	15 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 10:02	14 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 09:52	26 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 09:22	10 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 02:22	1 MW	1	N21
21 October at 16:02	64 MW	4	Met12
21 October at 15:52	34 MW	2	Met12
21 October at 15:22	13 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 14:10	20 MW	3	N
21 October at 12:52	12 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 11:22	25 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 10:52	21 MW	1	Met12

8 other fires near Kwando-Kubango (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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