Fire near Luapula (ZM)

11.19°S, 29.24°E · first detected on 6 September at 10:33

What the satellites measured

This fire was tracked from 6 September at 10:33 to 6 September at 13:32, through 62 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 636 ha.

Detected extent: 636 ha
Cumulative power: 465 MW
Peak power, one pixel: 20 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections: 62

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 375 m pixel counts in full 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 and loads only its detections. The timeline below covers the whole known life of the fire, from the first trace, satellite or report, to the last announcement from emergency services, and the ticks on the bar mark those announcements. Detections often stop before containment: a fire stops radiating once it stops spreading, which is exactly when it is declared contained. “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. “12 h” stacks twelve hours , as the home map does, where stacking avoids an empty screen between two satellite passes. 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 3 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
6 September at 20:28	31 MW	2	Terra
6 September at 19:50	26 MW	2	Met9
6 September at 19:43	23 MW	2	Met12
6 September at 18:50	16 MW	1	Met9
6 September at 18:35	18 MW	1	Met10
6 September at 18:35	18 MW	1	Met9
6 September at 18:20	17 MW	1	Met9
6 September at 18:20	19 MW	1	Met10
6 September at 18:05	20 MW	1	Met9
6 September at 18:05	21 MW	1	Met10
6 September at 17:50	25 MW	1	Met10
6 September at 17:50	36 MW	2	Met9
6 September at 17:43	10 MW	1	Met12
6 September at 17:35	60 MW	3	Met9
6 September at 17:35	63 MW	3	Met10
6 September at 17:33	14 MW	1	Met12
6 September at 17:23	14 MW	1	Met12
6 September at 17:20	69 MW	3	Met10
6 September at 17:20	64 MW	3	Met9
6 September at 17:13	21 MW	1	Met12
6 September at 17:05	81 MW	3	Met10
6 September at 17:05	79 MW	3	Met9
6 September at 17:03	29 MW	2	Met12
6 September at 16:53	31 MW	2	Met12
6 September at 16:50	108 MW	4	Met9
6 September at 16:50	81 MW	3	Met10
6 September at 16:43	43 MW	3	Met12
6 September at 16:35	110 MW	3	Met9
6 September at 16:35	55 MW	2	Met10
6 September at 16:33	38 MW	2	Met12
6 September at 16:23	24 MW	1	Met12
6 September at 16:20	133 MW	3	Met9
6 September at 16:13	57 MW	4	Met12
6 September at 16:05	189 MW	3	Met9
6 September at 16:04	91 MW	1	Met10
6 September at 16:03	113 MW	5	Met12
6 September at 15:53	39 MW	2	Met12
6 September at 15:50	61 MW	1	Met9
6 September at 15:35	169 MW	2	Met9
6 September at 15:34	102 MW	1	Met10
6 September at 15:33	37 MW	1	Met12
6 September at 15:23	75 MW	2	Met12
6 September at 15:20	213 MW	2	Met9
6 September at 15:19	135 MW	1	Met10
6 September at 14:53	26 MW	2	Met12
6 September at 14:43	25 MW	2	Met12
6 September at 14:33	97 MW	4	Met12
6 September at 14:23	49 MW	3	Met12
6 September at 14:19	122 MW	11	N21
6 September at 14:13	15 MW	1	Met12
6 September at 14:03	56 MW	2	Met12
6 September at 13:53	64 MW	3	Met12
6 September at 13:43	62 MW	3	Met12
6 September at 13:33	71 MW	4	Met12
6 September at 13:32	274 MW	46	N20
6 September at 13:23	44 MW	2	Met12
6 September at 13:15	401 MW	48	N
6 September at 13:13	243 MW	12	Met12
6 September at 13:03	363 MW	8	Met12
6 September at 12:53	279 MW	8	Met12
6 September at 12:43	111 MW	8	Met12
6 September at 12:33	99 MW	7	Met12
6 September at 12:23	38 MW	1	Met12
6 September at 12:13	25 MW	2	Met12
6 September at 11:33	182 MW	5	Met12
6 September at 11:23	115 MW	3	Met12
6 September at 11:13	92 MW	2	Met12
6 September at 11:03	106 MW	3	Met12
6 September at 10:53	26 MW	1	Met12
6 September at 10:33	58 MW	3	Met12

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