Fire near Maputo (MZ)
24.98°S, 32.15°E · first detected on 9 October at 13:10
What the satellites measured
This fire was tracked from 9 October at 13:10 to 22 October at 14:08, that is 13 days, through 805 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 10,962 ha.
- Detected extent
- 10,962 ha
- Cumulative power
- 14,580 MW
- Peak power, one pixel
- 499 MW
- VIIRS and MODIS detections
- 805
- Estimated emissions
- 18.0 kt of carbon
- Carbon burnt in the 0.1 degree cells (about 10 km) around the fire, from 9 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.
Before, after: the burn scar seen from space
Sentinel-2, 10 m resolution. No sufficiently clear pass has followed the fire going out yet: the second image was taken DURING the fire, so the burn scar had not finished spreading. It will be replaced automatically at the first clear sky. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel-2 data (2026).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22 October at 14:33 | 126 MW | 1 | Met10 |
| 22 October at 14:18 | 106 MW | 1 | Met10 |
| 22 October at 14:03 | 290 MW | 3 | Met9 |
| 22 October at 13:48 | 316 MW | 3 | Met9 |
| 22 October at 13:48 | 132 MW | 1 | Met10 |
| 22 October at 13:33 | 450 MW | 4 | Met9 |
| 22 October at 13:33 | 174 MW | 1 | Met10 |
| 22 October at 13:18 | 481 MW | 4 | Met9 |
| 22 October at 13:18 | 191 MW | 1 | Met10 |
| 22 October at 13:03 | 599 MW | 5 | Met9 |
| 22 October at 13:03 | 345 MW | 2 | Met10 |
| 22 October at 12:52 | 22 MW | 1 | Met12 |
| 22 October at 12:48 | 373 MW | 2 | Met10 |
| 22 October at 12:48 | 635 MW | 5 | Met9 |
| 22 October at 12:42 | 20 MW | 1 | Met12 |
| 22 October at 12:33 | 527 MW | 3 | Met10 |
| 22 October at 12:33 | 451 MW | 3 | Met9 |
| 22 October at 12:22 | 20 MW | 1 | Met12 |
| 22 October at 12:18 | 460 MW | 3 | Met9 |
| 22 October at 12:18 | 532 MW | 3 | Met10 |
| 22 October at 12:03 | 578 MW | 4 | Met9 |
| 22 October at 12:03 | 536 MW | 3 | Met10 |
| 22 October at 11:48 | 564 MW | 3 | Met10 |
| 22 October at 11:48 | 480 MW | 3 | Met9 |
| 22 October at 11:33 | 497 MW | 3 | Met9 |
| 22 October at 11:33 | 537 MW | 3 | Met10 |
| 22 October at 11:18 | 522 MW | 3 | Met10 |
| 22 October at 11:18 | 614 MW | 4 | Met9 |
| 22 October at 11:03 | 396 MW | 2 | Met10 |
| 22 October at 11:03 | 606 MW | 4 | Met9 |
| 22 October at 10:52 | 20 MW | 1 | Met12 |
| 22 October at 10:48 | 594 MW | 4 | Met9 |
| 22 October at 10:48 | 585 MW | 4 | Met10 |
| 22 October at 10:33 | 575 MW | 4 | Met9 |
| 22 October at 10:33 | 476 MW | 3 | Met10 |
| 22 October at 10:18 | 549 MW | 4 | Met9 |
| 22 October at 10:18 | 455 MW | 3 | Met10 |
| 22 October at 10:03 | 412 MW | 3 | Met10 |
| 22 October at 10:03 | 399 MW | 3 | Met9 |
| 22 October at 09:48 | 457 MW | 4 | Met10 |
| 22 October at 09:48 | 394 MW | 3 | Met9 |
| 22 October at 09:33 | 356 MW | 3 | Met9 |
| 22 October at 09:33 | 353 MW | 3 | Met10 |
| 22 October at 09:18 | 334 MW | 3 | Met9 |
| 22 October at 09:18 | 322 MW | 3 | Met10 |
| 22 October at 09:03 | 271 MW | 3 | Met10 |
| 22 October at 09:03 | 217 MW | 2 | Met9 |
| 22 October at 08:48 | 176 MW | 2 | Met10 |
| 22 October at 08:48 | 195 MW | 2 | Met9 |
| 22 October at 08:33 | 83 MW | 1 | Met10 |
| 22 October at 08:33 | 160 MW | 2 | Met9 |
| 21 October at 11:33 | 124 MW | 1 | Met10 |
| 21 October at 11:18 | 129 MW | 1 | Met10 |
| 21 October at 11:03 | 219 MW | 2 | Met10 |
| 21 October at 10:48 | 222 MW | 2 | Met10 |
| 21 October at 10:33 | 216 MW | 2 | Met10 |
| 21 October at 10:18 | 279 MW | 3 | Met10 |
| 21 October at 10:03 | 102 MW | 1 | Met10 |
| 21 October at 09:48 | 88 MW | 1 | Met10 |
| 21 October at 09:33 | 81 MW | 1 | Met10 |
| 20 October at 14:25 | 127 MW | 18 | N |
| 20 October at 14:22 | 16 MW | 1 | Met12 |
| 20 October at 00:37 | 17 MW | 10 | N20 |
| 20 October at 00:18 | 10 MW | 7 | N |
| 19 October at 15:59 | 42 MW | 3 | Aqua |
| 19 October at 14:44 | 1,092 MW | 40 | N |
| 19 October at 14:08 | 2,200 MW | 33 | N21 |
| 19 October at 13:23 | 2,304 MW | 49 | N20 |
| 19 October at 13:04 | 2,076 MW | 48 | N |
| 19 October at 08:27 | 231 MW | 6 | Terra |
| 19 October at 01:39 | 13 MW | 7 | N21 |
| 19 October at 00:57 | 20 MW | 16 | N20 |
| 19 October at 00:35 | 17 MW | 15 | N |
| 18 October at 23:59 | 8 MW | 4 | N21 |
| 18 October at 14:25 | 865 MW | 45 | N21 |
| 18 October at 13:42 | 404 MW | 43 | N20 |
| 18 October at 13:21 | 723 MW | 45 | N |
| 18 October at 12:45 | 390 MW | 41 | N21 |
| 16 October at 15:44 | 29 MW | 2 | Aqua |
| 12 October at 12:58 | 10 MW | 1 | N21 |
8 other fires near Maputo (MZ)
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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