Fire near Rukwa (TZ)

7.34°S, 31.20°E

What the satellites measured

This fire is not in the last thirty days of the fire list, but detections remain around this point: the curve below is rebuilt from the raw pixels, which are kept for a hundred days.

“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
23 October at 01:16	0 MW	1	N20
21 October at 14:34	12 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 14:20	82 MW	1	Met9
21 October at 14:11	132 MW	12	N
21 October at 14:04	14 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 13:54	27 MW	2	Met12
21 October at 13:34	163 MW	25	N21
21 October at 12:49	34 MW	7	N20
21 October at 11:44	11 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 11:04	17 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 13:10	72 MW	10	N20
20 October at 13:04	13 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 12:49	7 MW	1	N
20 October at 12:14	11 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 12:04	72 MW	4	Met12
20 October at 11:54	13 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 11:34	10 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 10:24	11 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 01:16	1 MW	1	N21
19 October at 13:28	119 MW	24	N20
19 October at 13:08	147 MW	13	N
19 October at 12:32	113 MW	9	N21
18 October at 13:47	90 MW	10	N20
18 October at 13:28	166 MW	17	N
18 October at 12:49	141 MW	21	N21
17 October at 14:06	6 MW	1	N20
17 October at 13:47	74 MW	9	N
17 October at 13:10	6 MW	1	N21
17 October at 01:29	1 MW	1	N20
16 October at 14:23	36 MW	3	N20
16 October at 14:04	126 MW	16	N
16 October at 13:28	258 MW	41	N21
16 October at 12:43	36 MW	8	N20
16 October at 01:48	2 MW	1	N20
16 October at 01:29	4 MW	3	N
15 October at 14:23	5 MW	1	N
15 October at 13:47	50 MW	8	N21
15 October at 13:02	28 MW	6	N20
15 October at 02:05	4 MW	2	N20
15 October at 01:09	3 MW	3	N21
14 October at 14:06	54 MW	7	N21
14 October at 13:21	14 MW	4	N20
14 October at 13:02	28 MW	10	N
14 October at 02:05	2 MW	3	N
14 October at 01:29	6 MW	4	N21
14 October at 00:44	1 MW	1	N20
13 October at 15:31	68 MW	5	Aqua
13 October at 13:40	52 MW	17	N20
12 October at 13:02	128 MW	21	N21
12 October at 01:22	1 MW	1	N20
11 October at 15:55	7 MW	1	Aqua
11 October at 14:17	88 MW	7	N20
11 October at 13:57	218 MW	42	N
11 October at 13:21	395 MW	42	N21
11 October at 01:41	2 MW	4	N20
11 October at 01:22	3 MW	5	N
11 October at 00:45	3 MW	2	N21
10 October at 14:19	72 MW	14	N
10 October at 13:40	271 MW	33	N21
10 October at 12:56	148 MW	37	N20
10 October at 01:03	1 MW	2	N21
9 October at 14:00	242 MW	35	N21
9 October at 13:15	262 MW	28	N20
9 October at 12:56	113 MW	25	N
9 October at 08:25	67 MW	8	Terra
9 October at 02:01	14 MW	4	N
9 October at 01:22	9 MW	5	N21
9 October at 00:37	4 MW	1	N20
8 October at 15:40	10 MW	1	Aqua
8 October at 13:34	28 MW	8	N20
8 October at 13:15	7 MW	1	N
8 October at 12:38	77 MW	4	N21
7 October at 13:51	54 MW	9	N20
7 October at 13:34	46 MW	8	N
7 October at 12:56	10 MW	1	N21
6 October at 14:12	67 MW	14	N20
6 October at 13:51	117 MW	23	N
6 October at 13:17	71 MW	14	N21
6 October at 01:33	1 MW	1	N20
6 October at 01:16	1 MW	2	N
6 October at 00:37	1 MW	1	N21
5 October at 14:10	10 MW	3	N
5 October at 13:34	9 MW	3	N21
4 October at 14:29	9 MW	1	N
4 October at 13:51	24 MW	4	N21
4 October at 13:08	15 MW	6	N20
4 October at 12:49	5 MW	1	N
4 October at 08:27	12 MW	2	Terra
3 October at 15:44	61 MW	4	Aqua
3 October at 14:12	53 MW	4	N21
3 October at 13:28	64 MW	17	N20
3 October at 13:08	51 MW	10	N
3 October at 12:32	57 MW	5	N21
3 October at 00:52	1 MW	1	N20
2 October at 13:47	141 MW	23	N20
2 October at 13:27	72 MW	18	N
2 October at 12:49	73 MW	19	N21
2 October at 01:09	9 MW	4	N20
2 October at 00:50	1 MW	2	N
1 October at 14:06	37 MW	11	N20
1 October at 13:47	85 MW	19	N
1 October at 13:10	137 MW	27	N21
1 October at 01:29	4 MW	5	N20
1 October at 01:09	10 MW	7	N
1 October at 00:31	9 MW	9	N21
30 September at 14:04	122 MW	8	N
30 September at 13:28	59 MW	12	N21
30 September at 12:43	22 MW	3	N20
29 September at 14:23	72 MW	8	N
29 September at 13:47	148 MW	22	N21
29 September at 13:02	200 MW	24	N20
29 September at 12:43	29 MW	5	N
29 September at 08:27	26 MW	1	Terra
29 September at 01:46	1 MW	1	N
29 September at 01:09	3 MW	3	N21
28 September at 15:53	26 MW	2	Aqua
28 September at 14:06	168 MW	16	N21
28 September at 13:21	112 MW	18	N20
28 September at 02:05	1 MW	1	N
28 September at 01:29	6 MW	4	N21
27 September at 00:44	1 MW	1	N
26 September at 13:57	110 MW	15	N20
26 September at 13:40	128 MW	28	N
26 September at 13:02	76 MW	13	N21
26 September at 02:05	4 MW	1	N21
26 September at 01:22	3 MW	2	N20
25 September at 15:38	17 MW	2	Aqua
25 September at 14:18	28 MW	4	N20
25 September at 13:57	170 MW	24	N
25 September at 13:21	128 MW	21	N21
25 September at 12:38	20 MW	2	N20
24 September at 20:45	7 MW	1	Terra
24 September at 14:18	19 MW	3	N
24 September at 13:40	55 MW	9	N21
24 September at 12:56	62 MW	15	N20
24 September at 01:59	4 MW	2	N20
24 September at 01:39	0 MW	1	N
24 September at 01:03	2 MW	2	N21
23 September at 14:00	52 MW	8	N21
23 September at 13:13	175 MW	13	N20
23 September at 12:56	53 MW	7	N

8 other fires near Rukwa (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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