Fire near Nampula (MZ)

15.04°S, 39.78°E · first detected on 5 October at 13:32

What the satellites measured

This fire was tracked from 5 October at 13:32 to 18 October at 23:55, that is 13 days, through 76 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 2,299 ha.

Detected extent: 2,299 ha
Cumulative power: 893 MW
Peak power, one pixel: 67 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections: 76
Estimated emissions: 5.9 kt of carbon; Carbon burnt in the 0.1 degree cells (about 10 km) around the fire, from 5 October 2026 to 18 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 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
19 October at 23:38	10 MW	3	N21
19 October at 20:34	48 MW	3	Terra
19 October at 13:25	2,750 MW	230	N20
19 October at 13:06	2,622 MW	281	N
19 October at 12:28	3,204 MW	272	N21
19 October at 00:52	11 MW	12	N20
19 October at 00:33	8 MW	10	N
18 October at 23:55	12 MW	10	N21
18 October at 19:56	39 MW	6	Terra
18 October at 15:25	302 MW	24	Aqua
18 October at 13:45	378 MW	36	N20
18 October at 13:23	1,351 MW	82	N
18 October at 12:47	980 MW	95	N21
18 October at 12:04	243 MW	16	N20
18 October at 07:44	19 MW	3	Terra
18 October at 00:52	1 MW	1	N
18 October at 00:16	2 MW	2	N21
17 October at 13:45	306 MW	53	N
17 October at 13:06	1,721 MW	128	N21
17 October at 12:21	1,093 MW	115	N20
17 October at 01:29	2 MW	2	N20
17 October at 01:09	3 MW	3	N
17 October at 00:33	5 MW	5	N21
16 October at 20:17	16 MW	2	Terra
16 October at 15:44	53 MW	2	Aqua
16 October at 14:02	201 MW	22	N
16 October at 13:25	897 MW	57	N21
16 October at 12:43	1,080 MW	113	N20
16 October at 12:21	925 MW	91	N
16 October at 08:03	146 MW	9	Terra
16 October at 01:29	11 MW	7	N
16 October at 00:52	8 MW	6	N21
16 October at 00:09	10 MW	7	N20
15 October at 15:06	999 MW	65	Aqua
15 October at 13:45	1,154 MW	82	N21
15 October at 13:00	2,841 MW	391	N20
15 October at 12:41	2,646 MW	321	N
15 October at 12:04	1,992 MW	142	N21
15 October at 01:12	1 MW	1	N21
15 October at 00:27	4 MW	5	N20
15 October at 00:08	0 MW	1	N
14 October at 14:29	200 MW	2	Aqua
14 October at 13:19	3,014 MW	322	N20
14 October at 13:00	3,381 MW	419	N
14 October at 12:21	3,591 MW	292	N21
14 October at 00:46	1 MW	2	N20
14 October at 00:28	4 MW	4	N
13 October at 23:50	2 MW	1	N21
13 October at 19:56	36 MW	3	Terra
13 October at 15:29	659 MW	38	Aqua
13 October at 13:38	1,857 MW	333	N20
13 October at 07:46	171 MW	14	Terra
12 October at 14:51	606 MW	28	Aqua
12 October at 13:00	4,151 MW	490	N21
12 October at 01:24	2 MW	1	N20
12 October at 01:03	11 MW	6	N
12 October at 00:29	29 MW	12	N21
11 October at 20:17	36 MW	3	Terra
11 October at 13:55	1,918 MW	224	N
11 October at 13:19	5,018 MW	447	N21
11 October at 12:35	3,264 MW	373	N20
11 October at 12:15	1,096 MW	135	N
11 October at 08:08	33 MW	3	Terra
11 October at 01:24	2 MW	2	N
11 October at 00:46	18 MW	19	N21
11 October at 00:01	4 MW	5	N20
10 October at 19:39	88 MW	5	Terra
10 October at 15:14	2,349 MW	149	Aqua
10 October at 13:38	3,513 MW	341	N21
10 October at 12:53	4,684 MW	602	N20
10 October at 12:34	3,020 MW	455	N
10 October at 11:58	582 MW	30	N21
10 October at 01:05	2 MW	1	N21
10 October at 00:22	3 MW	3	N20
9 October at 14:36	720 MW	8	Aqua
9 October at 13:11	2,723 MW	330	N20
9 October at 12:53	2,568 MW	312	N
9 October at 12:15	1,254 MW	158	N21
9 October at 00:40	3 MW	5	N20
8 October at 19:58	54 MW	7	Terra
8 October at 15:38	571 MW	23	Aqua
8 October at 13:32	3,190 MW	303	N20
8 October at 13:13	4,328 MW	613	N
8 October at 12:36	3,628 MW	414	N21
8 October at 07:46	79 MW	8	Terra
8 October at 00:59	11 MW	10	N20
8 October at 00:40	18 MW	16	N
8 October at 00:01	18 MW	15	N21
7 October at 14:59	2,551 MW	109	Aqua
7 October at 13:49	2,633 MW	283	N20
7 October at 13:31	5,520 MW	721	N
7 October at 12:53	5,778 MW	755	N21
7 October at 12:11	2,198 MW	181	N20
7 October at 00:59	3 MW	4	N
7 October at 00:22	3 MW	4	N21
6 October at 20:19	102 MW	15	Terra
6 October at 13:49	2,737 MW	315	N
6 October at 13:14	3,611 MW	345	N21
6 October at 12:28	3,033 MW	290	N20
6 October at 12:11	464 MW	34	N
6 October at 00:40	1 MW	2	N21
5 October at 19:39	32 MW	2	Terra
5 October at 15:21	1,163 MW	88	Aqua
5 October at 14:08	66 MW	5	N
5 October at 13:32	2,094 MW	268	N21
5 October at 12:47	3,407 MW	374	N20
5 October at 12:28	1,413 MW	219	N
4 October at 14:44	77 MW	2	Aqua
4 October at 13:49	143 MW	3	N21
4 October at 13:06	505 MW	70	N20
4 October at 12:45	530 MW	46	N
4 October at 12:11	148 MW	18	N21

8 other fires near Nampula (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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