Fire near Papouasie (ID)

7.86°S, 138.12°E · first detected on 23 September at 06:27

What the satellites measured

This fire was tracked from 23 September at 06:27 to 21 October at 18:30, that is 29 days, through 1,952 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 27,159 ha.

Detected extent: 27,159 ha
Cumulative power: 20,434 MW
Peak power, one pixel: 213 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections: 1,952
Estimated emissions: 101.1 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).

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

Pass	Power summed over the pass	Detections	Sensor
22 October at 08:56	27 MW	1	Him9
21 October at 18:30	1 MW	1	N
21 October at 17:52	1 MW	1	N21
21 October at 06:46	3 MW	1	N21
20 October at 06:21	29 MW	7	N20
20 October at 06:04	12 MW	2	N
19 October at 06:42	54 MW	9	N20
19 October at 05:47	14 MW	4	N21
18 October at 18:05	3 MW	2	N20
18 October at 08:52	12 MW	1	Aqua
18 October at 06:59	25 MW	5	N20
18 October at 06:40	69 MW	15	N
17 October at 06:59	22 MW	5	N
17 October at 06:21	177 MW	31	N21
17 October at 05:38	25 MW	4	N20
16 October at 18:24	2 MW	2	N
16 October at 17:46	2 MW	1	N21
16 October at 07:18	33 MW	5	N
16 October at 06:42	157 MW	17	N21
16 October at 05:57	198 MW	16	N20
15 October at 08:35	10 MW	1	Aqua
14 October at 18:24	1 MW	1	N21
14 October at 05:38	29 MW	3	N21
13 October at 17:58	3 MW	2	N20
12 October at 18:18	5 MW	4	N20
12 October at 08:20	191 MW	8	Aqua
12 October at 07:13	161 MW	15	N20
12 October at 06:55	484 MW	57	N
12 October at 06:17	470 MW	52	N21
12 October at 05:32	53 MW	9	N20
11 October at 18:35	12 MW	6	N20
11 October at 18:16	17 MW	10	N
11 October at 17:39	12 MW	3	N21
11 October at 13:45	9 MW	1	Terra
11 October at 07:12	459 MW	55	N
11 October at 06:36	397 MW	17	N21
11 October at 05:51	426 MW	62	N20
10 October at 17:58	1 MW	1	N21
10 October at 08:42	18 MW	3	Aqua
10 October at 06:53	8 MW	1	N21
8 October at 06:49	6 MW	2	N20
7 October at 18:11	5 MW	5	N20
7 October at 17:52	3 MW	2	N
7 October at 08:27	63 MW	7	Aqua
7 October at 07:06	82 MW	14	N20
7 October at 06:46	355 MW	39	N
7 October at 06:10	43 MW	3	N21
6 October at 18:30	4 MW	2	N20
6 October at 18:09	6 MW	4	N
6 October at 17:33	1 MW	1	N21
6 October at 07:06	639 MW	90	N
6 October at 05:45	513 MW	56	N20
5 October at 18:50	1 MW	1	N20
5 October at 18:30	4 MW	4	N
5 October at 17:52	4 MW	2	N21
5 October at 08:48	18 MW	2	Aqua
5 October at 06:46	44 MW	5	N21
5 October at 06:04	22 MW	3	N20
5 October at 05:45	145 MW	7	N
4 October at 06:21	6 MW	2	N20
4 October at 06:04	15 MW	2	N
4 October at 05:25	15 MW	2	N21
3 October at 17:46	1 MW	1	N20
3 October at 13:28	4 MW	1	Terra
3 October at 06:42	5 MW	1	N20
3 October at 05:47	21 MW	2	N21
2 October at 18:03	3 MW	4	N20
2 October at 08:33	94 MW	11	Aqua
2 October at 06:59	129 MW	15	N20
2 October at 06:40	224 MW	26	N
1 October at 07:21	81 MW	7	N20
1 October at 06:59	187 MW	11	N
1 October at 06:21	334 MW	39	N21
1 October at 05:38	107 MW	9	N20
30 September at 08:54	20 MW	2	Aqua
30 September at 07:18	4 MW	1	N
30 September at 06:42	33 MW	5	N21
30 September at 05:57	14 MW	3	N20
29 September at 18:07	1 MW	1	N21
29 September at 08:16	137 MW	7	Aqua
29 September at 06:59	47 MW	6	N21
29 September at 06:17	121 MW	11	N20
29 September at 05:55	107 MW	17	N
28 September at 06:34	244 MW	28	N20
28 September at 06:17	258 MW	28	N
28 September at 05:38	81 MW	10	N21
27 September at 08:40	204 MW	10	Aqua
27 September at 06:53	101 MW	12	N20
27 September at 06:34	279 MW	42	N
27 September at 05:57	223 MW	27	N21
26 September at 20:24	4 MW	1	Aqua
26 September at 18:18	18 MW	14	N20
26 September at 17:58	11 MW	9	N
26 September at 07:12	90 MW	8	N20
26 September at 06:55	387 MW	30	N
26 September at 06:17	327 MW	39	N21
26 September at 05:32	66 MW	7	N20
25 September at 18:16	2 MW	2	N
25 September at 07:12	15 MW	3	N
25 September at 06:36	211 MW	28	N21
25 September at 05:51	98 MW	25	N20
24 September at 08:25	100 MW	7	Aqua
24 September at 06:53	34 MW	6	N21
24 September at 06:10	32 MW	4	N20
24 September at 05:49	58 MW	8	N
23 September at 18:54	2 MW	3	N
23 September at 18:18	11 MW	7	N21
23 September at 17:33	1 MW	2	N20
23 September at 13:30	7 MW	1	Terra
23 September at 06:27	3 MW	1	N20

8 other fires near Papouasie (ID)

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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