Fire near Maranhão (BR)

4.36°S, 45.86°W · first detected on 16 October at 05:55

What the satellites measured

This fire was tracked from 16 October at 05:55 to 23 October at 06:19, that is 7 days, through 72 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 1,522 ha.

Detected extent: 1,522 ha
Cumulative power: 1,168 MW
Peak power, one pixel: 115 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections: 72
Estimated emissions: 17.3 kt of carbon; Carbon burnt in the 0.1 degree cells (about 10 km) around the fire, from 16 October 2026 to 22 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 22 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 10 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
23 October at 06:19	4 MW	3	N20
23 October at 06:00	2 MW	2	N
22 October at 21:25	28 MW	1	G19FRP
22 October at 21:24	50 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 21:20	32 MW	1	G19
22 October at 21:15	19 MW	1	Aqua
22 October at 21:14	24 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 21:04	15 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 20:55	32 MW	1	G19FRP
22 October at 20:54	35 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 20:45	54 MW	1	G19FRP
22 October at 20:44	134 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 20:40	61 MW	1	G19
22 October at 20:34	53 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 20:24	73 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 20:15	90 MW	1	G19FRP
22 October at 20:14	215 MW	7	Met12
22 October at 20:10	104 MW	1	G19
22 October at 20:04	66 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 20:00	82 MW	1	G19
22 October at 19:54	47 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 19:50	58 MW	1	G19
22 October at 19:45	39 MW	1	G19FRP
22 October at 19:44	91 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 19:34	39 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 19:25	131 MW	1	G19FRP
22 October at 19:24	231 MW	5	Met12
22 October at 19:17	69 MW	3	N20
22 October at 19:14	98 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 19:10	72 MW	1	G19
22 October at 19:05	169 MW	2	G19FRP
22 October at 19:04	148 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 19:00	230 MW	3	G19
22 October at 18:58	111 MW	4	N
22 October at 18:55	151 MW	1	G19FRP
22 October at 18:54	27 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 18:50	290 MW	3	G19
22 October at 18:45	61 MW	1	G19FRP
22 October at 18:44	613 MW	7	Met12
22 October at 18:35	66 MW	1	G19FRP
22 October at 18:34	829 MW	8	Met12
22 October at 18:30	47 MW	1	G19
22 October at 18:24	327 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 18:15	41 MW	1	G19FRP
22 October at 18:14	100 MW	5	Met12
22 October at 18:05	160 MW	2	G19FRP
22 October at 18:04	131 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 18:00	73 MW	1	G19
22 October at 17:54	51 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 17:44	13 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 08:59	7 MW	1	Aqua
22 October at 06:38	6 MW	3	N20
22 October at 06:19	2 MW	1	N
21 October at 21:04	16 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 21:00	33 MW	1	G19
21 October at 20:36	12 MW	1	Aqua
21 October at 20:10	35 MW	1	G19
21 October at 20:04	41 MW	2	Met12
21 October at 19:54	98 MW	3	Met12
21 October at 19:40	65 MW	1	G19
21 October at 06:57	2 MW	1	N20
21 October at 06:38	2 MW	3	N
21 October at 06:02	2 MW	1	N21
21 October at 02:34	11 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 02:11	26 MW	1	Terra
21 October at 02:04	11 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 01:34	13 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 21:40	97 MW	2	G19
20 October at 21:34	57 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 21:30	46 MW	1	G19
20 October at 21:24	71 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 21:20	35 MW	1	G19
20 October at 21:14	151 MW	3	Met12
20 October at 21:10	141 MW	2	G19
20 October at 21:04	91 MW	3	Met12
20 October at 21:00	129 MW	2	G19
20 October at 19:37	28 MW	2	N
20 October at 19:24	19 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 18:44	20 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 18:14	15 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 18:13	20 MW	1	N20
20 October at 01:33	5 MW	1	Terra
19 October at 21:00	80 MW	2	Aqua
18 October at 18:52	209 MW	8	N20
18 October at 18:33	179 MW	4	N
18 October at 17:56	276 MW	3	N21
18 October at 06:14	3 MW	2	N20
18 October at 05:53	4 MW	3	N
18 October at 01:54	38 MW	2	Terra
16 October at 19:09	15 MW	2	N
16 October at 17:50	7 MW	1	N20
16 October at 06:53	5 MW	5	N20
16 October at 06:32	7 MW	7	N
16 October at 05:55	30 MW	4	N21

8 other fires near Maranhão (BR)

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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