Fire near Muchinga (ZM)

11.10°S, 31.22°E · first detected on 6 September at 00:59

What the satellites measured

This fire was tracked from 6 September at 00:59 to 6 September at 15:01, through 524 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 7,778 ha.

Detected extent: 7,778 ha
Cumulative power: 5,376 MW
Peak power, one pixel: 136 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections: 524

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 19:20	18 MW	1	Met9
6 September at 19:05	23 MW	1	Met9
6 September at 18:50	17 MW	1	Met9
6 September at 17:50	15 MW	1	Met9
6 September at 17:35	31 MW	2	Met9
6 September at 17:23	13 MW	1	Met12
6 September at 17:20	232 MW	7	Met10
6 September at 17:20	188 MW	6	Met9
6 September at 17:05	238 MW	7	Met10
6 September at 17:05	259 MW	9	Met9
6 September at 17:03	46 MW	3	Met12
6 September at 16:53	17 MW	1	Met12
6 September at 16:50	195 MW	5	Met10
6 September at 16:50	214 MW	6	Met9
6 September at 16:43	10 MW	1	Met12
6 September at 16:35	238 MW	6	Met10
6 September at 16:35	285 MW	9	Met9
6 September at 16:33	88 MW	5	Met12
6 September at 16:23	147 MW	8	Met12
6 September at 16:20	651 MW	18	Met9
6 September at 16:20	606 MW	13	Met10
6 September at 16:13	208 MW	11	Met12
6 September at 16:05	709 MW	19	Met9
6 September at 16:05	467 MW	7	Met10
6 September at 16:04	123 MW	4	Met10
6 September at 16:03	126 MW	7	Met12
6 September at 15:53	115 MW	7	Met12
6 September at 15:50	769 MW	20	Met9
6 September at 15:49	563 MW	10	Met10
6 September at 15:43	161 MW	8	Met12
6 September at 15:35	705 MW	14	Met9
6 September at 15:34	647 MW	10	Met10
6 September at 15:33	315 MW	11	Met12
6 September at 15:23	147 MW	9	Met12
6 September at 15:20	599 MW	15	Met9
6 September at 15:19	545 MW	10	Met10
6 September at 15:13	372 MW	16	Met12
6 September at 15:05	864 MW	17	Met9
6 September at 15:04	700 MW	11	Met10
6 September at 15:03	265 MW	10	Met12
6 September at 15:01	71 MW	1	Aqua
6 September at 14:53	245 MW	10	Met12
6 September at 14:50	135 MW	3	Met9
6 September at 14:49	854 MW	17	Met9
6 September at 14:49	833 MW	14	Met10
6 September at 14:43	373 MW	16	Met12
6 September at 14:34	634 MW	9	Met10
6 September at 14:34	898 MW	17	Met9
6 September at 14:33	277 MW	12	Met12
6 September at 14:23	288 MW	15	Met12
6 September at 14:19	540 MW	6	Met10
6 September at 14:19	1,058 MW	17	Met9
6 September at 14:18	1,179 MW	82	N21
6 September at 14:13	620 MW	23	Met12
6 September at 14:04	958 MW	9	Met10
6 September at 14:04	1,414 MW	19	Met9
6 September at 14:03	663 MW	21	Met12
6 September at 13:53	429 MW	20	Met12
6 September at 13:49	1,523 MW	20	Met9
6 September at 13:49	1,015 MW	11	Met10
6 September at 13:43	540 MW	18	Met12
6 September at 13:34	933 MW	11	Met10
6 September at 13:34	1,396 MW	19	Met9
6 September at 13:33	614 MW	18	Met12
6 September at 13:32	1,943 MW	257	N20
6 September at 13:23	459 MW	12	Met12
6 September at 13:19	1,213 MW	15	Met9
6 September at 13:19	737 MW	7	Met10
6 September at 13:15	1,890 MW	166	N
6 September at 13:13	613 MW	17	Met12
6 September at 13:04	1,053 MW	15	Met9
6 September at 13:04	1,000 MW	11	Met10
6 September at 13:03	433 MW	15	Met12
6 September at 12:53	555 MW	20	Met12
6 September at 12:49	776 MW	9	Met10
6 September at 12:49	811 MW	11	Met9
6 September at 12:43	545 MW	17	Met12
6 September at 12:36	923 MW	54	N21
6 September at 12:34	516 MW	8	Met10
6 September at 12:34	663 MW	13	Met9
6 September at 12:33	348 MW	13	Met12
6 September at 12:23	130 MW	7	Met12
6 September at 12:19	595 MW	8	Met9
6 September at 12:19	668 MW	7	Met10
6 September at 12:13	192 MW	8	Met12
6 September at 12:04	1,007 MW	9	Met9
6 September at 12:04	779 MW	7	Met10
6 September at 12:03	552 MW	15	Met12
6 September at 11:53	454 MW	16	Met12
6 September at 11:49	1,022 MW	9	Met10
6 September at 11:49	1,131 MW	10	Met9
6 September at 11:43	266 MW	9	Met12
6 September at 11:34	834 MW	10	Met9
6 September at 11:34	614 MW	7	Met10
6 September at 11:33	390 MW	15	Met12
6 September at 11:23	183 MW	7	Met12
6 September at 11:19	31 MW	1	Met10
6 September at 11:19	289 MW	5	Met9
6 September at 11:13	129 MW	7	Met12
6 September at 11:04	127 MW	2	Met10
6 September at 11:04	152 MW	2	Met9
6 September at 11:03	249 MW	12	Met12
6 September at 10:53	98 MW	5	Met12
6 September at 10:43	84 MW	6	Met12
6 September at 10:33	60 MW	4	Met12
6 September at 10:23	25 MW	2	Met12
6 September at 01:41	1 MW	1	N21
6 September at 00:59	9 MW	7	N20
6 September at 00:37	1 MW	1	N

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