Fire near Njombe (TZ)

8.98°S, 34.11°E · first detected on 23 September at 12:56

What the satellites measured

This fire was tracked from 23 September at 12:56 to 22 October at 13:15, that is 29 days, through 664 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 13,773 ha.

Detected extent
13,773 ha
Cumulative power
5,809 MW
Peak power, one pixel
176 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections
664
Estimated emissions
3.4 kt of carbon
Carbon burnt in the 0.1 degree cells (about 10 km) around the fire, from 5 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.

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 30 days; beyond that, clustering would merge two successive fires in the same place.

Fire dynamics

Loading history…

Satellite passes in detail

PassPower summed over the passDetectionsSensor
22 October at 13:15114 MW17N21
22 October at 13:0316 MW1Met12
22 October at 12:3212 MW2N20
22 October at 12:2371 MW4Met12
22 October at 11:5322 MW2Met12
22 October at 11:4327 MW2Met12
22 October at 11:3327 MW2Met12
22 October at 11:2314 MW1Met12
22 October at 11:1364 MW2Met12
22 October at 11:0570 MW1Met9
22 October at 11:0386 MW3Met12
22 October at 10:5310 MW1Met12
22 October at 10:4312 MW1Met12
22 October at 10:3325 MW2Met12
22 October at 10:1318 MW1Met12
22 October at 01:351 MW1N20
22 October at 01:161 MW2N
22 October at 00:376 MW3N21
21 October at 20:1725 MW3Terra
21 October at 17:5016 MW1Met9
21 October at 17:4311 MW1Met12
21 October at 17:3520 MW1Met9
21 October at 17:2313 MW1Met12
21 October at 17:2020 MW1Met10
21 October at 17:1317 MW1Met12
21 October at 17:0536 MW1Met9
21 October at 16:5064 MW2Met9
21 October at 16:2315 MW1Met12
21 October at 00:593 MW2N21
20 October at 21:3318 MW1Met12
20 October at 13:0814 MW4N20
20 October at 12:4917 MW4N
19 October at 20:3614 MW2Terra
19 October at 13:287 MW2N20
19 October at 13:086 MW2N
19 October at 12:3040 MW3N21
19 October at 01:355 MW4N21
19 October at 00:522 MW2N20
19 October at 00:311 MW1N
18 October at 13:4712 MW1N20
18 October at 13:2522 MW4N
17 October at 01:311 MW2N20
17 October at 01:093 MW3N
17 October at 00:312 MW1N21
16 October at 13:287 MW1N21
15 October at 13:473 MW1N21
15 October at 13:0218 MW3N20
15 October at 12:4121 MW4N
14 October at 13:214 MW1N20
14 October at 13:0215 MW2N
14 October at 12:2422 MW2N21
14 October at 08:257 MW1Terra
13 October at 13:406 MW1N20
12 October at 13:0251 MW7N21
12 October at 01:221 MW1N20
12 October at 01:032 MW2N
11 October at 13:2168 MW9N21
11 October at 12:3820 MW5N20
11 October at 01:412 MW3N20
11 October at 01:227 MW7N
11 October at 00:468 MW4N21
10 October at 15:1671 MW1Aqua
10 October at 13:4011 MW1N21
10 October at 12:56178 MW20N20
10 October at 12:36117 MW11N
10 October at 01:585 MW1N20
10 October at 01:038 MW4N21
9 October at 20:3813 MW1Terra
9 October at 13:57120 MW5N21
9 October at 13:13123 MW8N20
9 October at 12:56200 MW3N
9 October at 01:2210 MW5N21
9 October at 00:373 MW2N20
8 October at 15:4046 MW5Aqua
8 October at 13:34122 MW15N20
8 October at 13:15249 MW25N
8 October at 12:38108 MW16N21
8 October at 00:592 MW1N20
8 October at 00:371 MW2N
7 October at 15:01183 MW2Aqua
7 October at 13:5128 MW2N20
7 October at 13:3297 MW11N
7 October at 12:56221 MW8N21
7 October at 01:162 MW3N20
7 October at 00:205 MW3N21
6 October at 14:1215 MW3N20
6 October at 13:5174 MW12N
6 October at 13:1585 MW10N21
6 October at 12:30100 MW11N20
6 October at 01:351 MW1N20
6 October at 01:161 MW2N
6 October at 00:373 MW1N21
5 October at 15:2357 MW4Aqua
5 October at 14:10110 MW6N
5 October at 13:34274 MW21N21
5 October at 12:49270 MW7N20
5 October at 01:333 MW1N
5 October at 00:599 MW7N21
5 October at 00:143 MW2N20
4 October at 13:5174 MW12N21
4 October at 13:08136 MW16N20
4 October at 12:4885 MW19N
4 October at 01:161 MW2N21
4 October at 00:312 MW3N20
3 October at 15:4496 MW6Aqua
3 October at 13:28189 MW22N20
3 October at 13:08100 MW18N
3 October at 12:3290 MW11N21
3 October at 01:351 MW1N21
2 October at 13:4722 MW4N20
2 October at 12:4914 MW2N21
1 October at 13:4725 MW4N
1 October at 13:0852 MW13N21
1 October at 01:291 MW1N20
1 October at 01:092 MW2N
30 September at 15:2956 MW7Aqua
30 September at 14:0438 MW7N
30 September at 13:28214 MW10N21
30 September at 12:4321 MW4N20
30 September at 01:291 MW1N
30 September at 00:521 MW1N21
29 September at 14:2152 MW3N
29 September at 13:47173 MW10N21
29 September at 13:02128 MW17N20
29 September at 12:4147 MW8N
29 September at 00:251 MW1N20
28 September at 15:5316 MW1Aqua
28 September at 14:0421 MW3N21
28 September at 13:1968 MW10N20
28 September at 00:441 MW1N20
27 September at 15:1442 MW4Aqua
27 September at 13:1977 MW11N
27 September at 12:4349 MW4N21
27 September at 01:031 MW1N20
26 September at 13:5750 MW8N20
26 September at 13:39158 MW13N
26 September at 13:0262 MW9N21
26 September at 08:108 MW1Terra
26 September at 00:273 MW3N21
25 September at 13:575 MW1N
25 September at 13:2133 MW3N21
25 September at 12:366 MW1N20
24 September at 12:3657 MW6N
24 September at 01:031 MW1N21

8 other fires near Njombe (TZ)

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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