Fire near Niassa (MZ)

14.49°S, 36.54°E · first detected on 6 September at 10:19

What the satellites measured

This fire was tracked from 6 September at 10:19 to 6 September at 15:01, through 11 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 814 ha.

Detected extent: 814 ha
Cumulative power: 117 MW
Peak power, one pixel: 34 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections: 11

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 20:26	6 MW	1	Terra
6 September at 17:34	33 MW	2	Met9
6 September at 17:34	29 MW	1	Met10
6 September at 16:43	14 MW	1	Met12
6 September at 16:34	59 MW	3	Met9
6 September at 16:33	59 MW	5	Met12
6 September at 16:23	96 MW	6	Met12
6 September at 16:19	96 MW	3	Met10
6 September at 16:19	228 MW	9	Met9
6 September at 16:13	196 MW	7	Met12
6 September at 16:04	315 MW	10	Met9
6 September at 16:04	177 MW	5	Met10
6 September at 16:03	201 MW	11	Met12
6 September at 15:53	197 MW	10	Met12
6 September at 15:49	539 MW	13	Met9
6 September at 15:49	241 MW	5	Met10
6 September at 15:43	213 MW	13	Met12
6 September at 15:34	215 MW	7	Met9
6 September at 15:33	134 MW	7	Met12
6 September at 15:23	180 MW	10	Met12
6 September at 15:19	283 MW	9	Met9
6 September at 15:13	239 MW	11	Met12
6 September at 15:04	353 MW	10	Met9
6 September at 15:03	186 MW	12	Met12
6 September at 15:01	687 MW	17	Aqua
6 September at 14:53	254 MW	8	Met12
6 September at 14:49	732 MW	12	Met9
6 September at 14:49	122 MW	1	Met10
6 September at 14:43	385 MW	11	Met12
6 September at 14:34	1,054 MW	13	Met9
6 September at 14:34	435 MW	3	Met10
6 September at 14:33	522 MW	13	Met12
6 September at 14:23	369 MW	8	Met12
6 September at 14:19	578 MW	10	Met9
6 September at 14:13	223 MW	9	Met12
6 September at 14:04	652 MW	4	Met10
6 September at 14:04	1,141 MW	12	Met9
6 September at 14:03	529 MW	16	Met12
6 September at 13:53	329 MW	10	Met12
6 September at 13:49	647 MW	9	Met9
6 September at 13:49	140 MW	1	Met10
6 September at 13:43	247 MW	9	Met12
6 September at 13:34	203 MW	4	Met9
6 September at 13:33	101 MW	5	Met12
6 September at 13:32	428 MW	48	N20
6 September at 13:23	90 MW	6	Met12
6 September at 13:19	233 MW	5	Met9
6 September at 13:13	72 MW	4	Met12
6 September at 13:13	266 MW	46	N
6 September at 13:04	235 MW	3	Met9
6 September at 13:03	184 MW	7	Met12
6 September at 12:53	100 MW	5	Met12
6 September at 12:49	252 MW	4	Met9
6 September at 12:49	182 MW	2	Met10
6 September at 12:43	208 MW	8	Met12
6 September at 12:36	194 MW	13	N21
6 September at 12:34	56 MW	1	Met9
6 September at 12:33	64 MW	4	Met12
6 September at 12:13	72 MW	4	Met12
6 September at 12:03	14 MW	1	Met12
6 September at 11:43	36 MW	3	Met12
6 September at 11:33	30 MW	2	Met12
6 September at 11:23	14 MW	1	Met12
6 September at 11:04	86 MW	1	Met10
6 September at 11:04	112 MW	2	Met9
6 September at 11:03	74 MW	3	Met12
6 September at 10:53	120 MW	6	Met12
6 September at 10:43	42 MW	3	Met12
6 September at 10:33	13 MW	1	Met12
6 September at 10:23	27 MW	2	Met12
6 September at 10:19	318 MW	3	Met9
6 September at 10:19	150 MW	1	Met10
6 September at 08:16	7 MW	1	Terra

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