Fire near Kwanza-Nord (AO)

9.22°S, 14.11°E · first detected on 19 September at 16:44

What the satellites measured

This fire was tracked from 19 September at 16:44 to 7 October at 16:40, that is 18 days, through 1,391 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 27,529 ha.

Detected extent: 27,529 ha
Cumulative power: 12,342 MW
Peak power, one pixel: 145 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections: 1,391
Estimated emissions: 1.6 kt of carbon; Carbon burnt in the 0.1 degree cells (about 10 km) around the fire, from 5 October 2026 to 7 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 20 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
8 October at 15:14	1,423 MW	224	N20
8 October at 14:55	2,406 MW	314	N
8 October at 14:17	1,880 MW	200	N21
7 October at 16:40	753 MW	48	Aqua
7 October at 15:33	406 MW	38	N20
7 October at 15:14	760 MW	120	N
7 October at 14:38	743 MW	106	N21
7 October at 13:52	97 MW	12	N20
6 October at 15:31	89 MW	13	N
6 October at 14:55	163 MW	26	N21
6 October at 14:12	79 MW	8	N20
5 October at 17:01	511 MW	44	Aqua
5 October at 15:14	789 MW	67	N21
5 October at 14:29	1,281 MW	129	N20
5 October at 14:11	297 MW	62	N
4 October at 16:25	638 MW	17	Aqua
4 October at 14:49	1,082 MW	144	N20
4 October at 14:29	741 MW	85	N
4 October at 13:53	330 MW	35	N21
4 October at 02:58	13 MW	3	N21
3 October at 21:40	21 MW	5	Terra
3 October at 17:24	573 MW	11	Aqua
3 October at 15:08	2,111 MW	190	N20
3 October at 14:50	2,040 MW	315	N
3 October at 14:12	1,620 MW	198	N21
3 October at 02:33	1 MW	2	N20
3 October at 01:35	2 MW	2	N21
2 October at 16:45	1,641 MW	106	Aqua
2 October at 15:27	1,737 MW	143	N20
2 October at 15:08	3,070 MW	426	N
2 October at 14:31	3,275 MW	462	N21
2 October at 13:47	746 MW	69	N20
1 October at 15:25	213 MW	24	N
1 October at 14:51	73 MW	6	N21
1 October at 14:06	31 MW	4	N20
30 September at 17:08	192 MW	12	Aqua
30 September at 15:08	2,008 MW	253	N21
30 September at 14:23	2,322 MW	268	N20
30 September at 14:04	821 MW	137	N
29 September at 15:27	33 MW	2	N21
29 September at 14:44	10 MW	1	N20
27 September at 16:52	345 MW	23	Aqua
27 September at 15:21	24 MW	6	N20
27 September at 15:01	102 MW	14	N
27 September at 14:23	65 MW	5	N21
26 September at 15:21	3 MW	1	N
26 September at 14:44	4 MW	1	N21
25 September at 17:14	555 MW	16	Aqua
25 September at 15:38	581 MW	52	N
25 September at 15:01	2,157 MW	135	N21
25 September at 14:17	925 MW	123	N20
25 September at 13:57	241 MW	34	N
24 September at 16:37	458 MW	23	Aqua
24 September at 15:23	541 MW	39	N21
24 September at 14:36	1,414 MW	189	N20
24 September at 14:19	1,091 MW	109	N
24 September at 13:40	646 MW	46	N21
23 September at 14:55	3,492 MW	340	N20
23 September at 14:36	2,956 MW	371	N
23 September at 14:00	1,554 MW	150	N21
23 September at 02:01	0 MW	1	N
22 September at 16:59	123 MW	16	Aqua
22 September at 15:14	117 MW	21	N20
22 September at 14:55	153 MW	27	N
22 September at 14:17	67 MW	12	N21
21 September at 16:22	208 MW	8	Aqua
21 September at 15:33	88 MW	9	N20
21 September at 15:14	471 MW	59	N
21 September at 14:38	1,167 MW	139	N21
21 September at 13:51	117 MW	18	N20
20 September at 15:31	274 MW	28	N
20 September at 14:55	763 MW	65	N21
20 September at 14:12	339 MW	35	N20
20 September at 13:51	193 MW	15	N
19 September at 16:44	19 MW	2	Aqua

8 other fires near Kwanza-Nord (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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