Fire near Limpopo (ZA)

24.62°S, 29.41°E · first detected on 17 October at 14:02

What the satellites measured

This fire was tracked from 17 October at 14:02 to 20 October at 16:37, that is 3 days, through 160 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 2,378 ha.

Detected extent: 2,378 ha
Cumulative power: 2,620 MW
Peak power, one pixel: 124 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections: 160
Estimated emissions: 9.0 kt of carbon; Carbon burnt in the 0.1 degree cells (about 10 km) around the fire, from 17 October 2026 to 20 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 6 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 16:22	11 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 16:12	10 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 15:52	12 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 15:12	30 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 16:52	11 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 16:42	13 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 16:37	55 MW	2	Aqua
20 October at 16:32	17 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 16:22	33 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 16:12	46 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 16:03	134 MW	4	Met9
20 October at 16:02	101 MW	5	Met12
20 October at 15:52	63 MW	4	Met12
20 October at 15:48	29 MW	1	Met9
20 October at 15:42	94 MW	5	Met12
20 October at 15:33	65 MW	2	Met9
20 October at 15:32	95 MW	5	Met12
20 October at 15:22	71 MW	3	Met12
20 October at 15:18	57 MW	2	Met9
20 October at 15:12	50 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 15:03	47 MW	1	Met9
20 October at 15:03	53 MW	1	Met10
20 October at 15:02	103 MW	4	Met12
20 October at 14:52	94 MW	4	Met12
20 October at 14:48	96 MW	2	Met9
20 October at 14:44	119 MW	11	N20
20 October at 14:42	73 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 14:33	87 MW	1	Met10
20 October at 14:33	155 MW	3	Met9
20 October at 14:32	91 MW	3	Met12
20 October at 14:25	170 MW	13	N
20 October at 14:22	140 MW	5	Met12
20 October at 14:18	78 MW	1	Met10
20 October at 14:18	189 MW	4	Met9
20 October at 14:12	117 MW	5	Met12
20 October at 14:03	106 MW	1	Met10
20 October at 14:03	301 MW	5	Met9
20 October at 14:02	229 MW	8	Met12
20 October at 13:52	166 MW	5	Met12
20 October at 13:48	277 MW	3	Met10
20 October at 13:48	316 MW	5	Met9
20 October at 13:47	307 MW	11	N21
20 October at 13:42	208 MW	7	Met12
20 October at 13:33	186 MW	3	Met9
20 October at 13:33	105 MW	1	Met10
20 October at 13:32	227 MW	6	Met12
20 October at 13:22	98 MW	4	Met12
20 October at 13:12	60 MW	3	Met12
20 October at 13:04	63 MW	10	N20
20 October at 13:02	21 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 12:52	25 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 12:42	32 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 12:32	27 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 12:22	18 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 12:12	13 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 12:03	36 MW	1	Met9
20 October at 12:02	52 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 11:52	43 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 11:42	35 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 09:12	35 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 09:02	17 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 08:52	68 MW	4	Met12
20 October at 08:42	44 MW	3	Met12
20 October at 08:32	55 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 08:22	19 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 01:58	8 MW	5	N
20 October at 01:22	7 MW	5	N21
20 October at 00:37	8 MW	4	N20
19 October at 21:42	11 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 21:33	23 MW	1	Met9
19 October at 21:22	12 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 21:18	30 MW	1	Met10
19 October at 13:42	151 MW	3	Met12
19 October at 13:32	27 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 13:23	78 MW	5	N20
19 October at 13:22	117 MW	3	Met12
19 October at 12:42	74 MW	2	Met12
19 October at 12:32	109 MW	4	Met12
19 October at 12:22	54 MW	2	Met12
19 October at 11:12	17 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 11:03	57 MW	1	Met10
19 October at 11:03	68 MW	1	Met9
19 October at 11:02	43 MW	2	Met12
19 October at 10:52	19 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 10:42	53 MW	2	Met12
19 October at 10:33	204 MW	2	Met9
19 October at 10:33	173 MW	2	Met10
19 October at 10:32	188 MW	5	Met12
19 October at 10:22	18 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 10:18	120 MW	2	Met10
19 October at 10:18	68 MW	1	Met9
19 October at 10:12	143 MW	5	Met12
19 October at 10:02	18 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 09:52	48 MW	2	Met12
19 October at 09:48	171 MW	2	Met9
19 October at 09:48	148 MW	2	Met10
19 October at 09:42	66 MW	3	Met12
19 October at 09:33	131 MW	2	Met10
19 October at 09:32	50 MW	2	Met12
19 October at 09:22	58 MW	3	Met12
19 October at 09:12	32 MW	2	Met12
19 October at 09:03	46 MW	1	Met9
19 October at 09:02	46 MW	2	Met12
19 October at 08:52	24 MW	2	Met12
19 October at 08:48	118 MW	2	Met10
19 October at 08:48	79 MW	1	Met9
19 October at 08:42	29 MW	2	Met12
19 October at 08:32	29 MW	2	Met12
19 October at 08:27	42 MW	2	Terra
19 October at 08:18	39 MW	1	Met9
19 October at 01:39	1 MW	1	N21
19 October at 00:57	2 MW	2	N20
19 October at 00:35	1 MW	1	N
18 October at 15:23	204 MW	3	Aqua
18 October at 14:25	225 MW	17	N21
18 October at 13:42	289 MW	8	N20
18 October at 13:21	411 MW	13	N
18 October at 12:45	390 MW	12	N21
18 October at 03:15	10 MW	1	Aqua
18 October at 01:58	51 MW	12	N21
18 October at 01:14	5 MW	7	N20
18 October at 00:57	4 MW	3	N
18 October at 00:18	8 MW	5	N21
17 October at 20:51	34 MW	2	Terra
17 October at 14:44	117 MW	4	N21
17 October at 14:02	11 MW	1	N20

8 other fires near Limpopo (ZA)

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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