Fire near Ruvuma (TZ)

10.97°S, 35.04°E · first detected on 18 October at 12:49

What the satellites measured

This fire was tracked from 18 October at 12:49 to 22 October at 14:10, that is 4 days, through 77 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 1,311 ha.

Detected extent: 1,311 ha
Cumulative power: 787 MW
Peak power, one pixel: 37 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections: 77
Estimated emissions: 421 t of carbon; Carbon burnt in the 0.1 degree cells (about 10 km) around the fire, from 18 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 7 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 16:53	10 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 16:43	12 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 16:35	64 MW	2	Met10
22 October at 16:35	94 MW	3	Met9
22 October at 16:33	37 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 16:23	61 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 16:20	126 MW	4	Met10
22 October at 16:20	129 MW	5	Met9
22 October at 16:13	167 MW	6	Met12
22 October at 16:05	271 MW	5	Met9
22 October at 16:05	293 MW	4	Met10
22 October at 16:03	297 MW	5	Met12
22 October at 15:53	156 MW	7	Met12
22 October at 15:50	151 MW	5	Met9
22 October at 15:50	105 MW	3	Met10
22 October at 15:43	323 MW	6	Met12
22 October at 15:35	311 MW	7	Met9
22 October at 15:35	227 MW	4	Met10
22 October at 15:33	306 MW	6	Met12
22 October at 15:23	190 MW	6	Met12
22 October at 15:20	447 MW	9	Met9
22 October at 15:20	290 MW	3	Met10
22 October at 15:13	127 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 15:05	207 MW	3	Met9
22 October at 15:05	167 MW	2	Met10
22 October at 15:03	215 MW	6	Met12
22 October at 14:53	246 MW	6	Met12
22 October at 14:50	236 MW	6	Met9
22 October at 14:50	124 MW	2	Met10
22 October at 14:43	112 MW	6	Met12
22 October at 14:35	189 MW	3	Met10
22 October at 14:35	403 MW	8	Met9
22 October at 14:33	212 MW	6	Met12
22 October at 14:23	185 MW	6	Met12
22 October at 14:20	184 MW	5	Met9
22 October at 14:20	51 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 14:13	57 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 14:10	76 MW	8	N20
22 October at 14:03	39 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 13:53	28 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 13:51	98 MW	14	N
22 October at 13:50	30 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 13:43	49 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 13:35	57 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 13:35	64 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 13:33	92 MW	5	Met12
22 October at 13:23	25 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 13:15	219 MW	14	N21
22 October at 13:13	99 MW	5	Met12
22 October at 13:05	102 MW	2	Met10
22 October at 13:05	76 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 13:03	126 MW	6	Met12
22 October at 12:53	67 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 12:50	138 MW	3	Met9
22 October at 12:49	56 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 12:43	28 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 12:35	245 MW	4	Met9
22 October at 12:34	180 MW	2	Met10
22 October at 12:33	218 MW	9	Met12
22 October at 12:30	192 MW	16	N20
22 October at 12:23	254 MW	6	Met12
22 October at 12:20	356 MW	4	Met9
22 October at 12:19	313 MW	3	Met10
22 October at 12:13	163 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 12:05	363 MW	4	Met9
22 October at 12:04	361 MW	3	Met10
22 October at 12:03	165 MW	6	Met12
22 October at 11:53	123 MW	5	Met12
22 October at 11:49	57 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 11:43	22 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 11:34	71 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 11:33	35 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 11:23	20 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 11:19	51 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 11:13	96 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 11:04	142 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 11:04	116 MW	2	Met10
22 October at 11:03	338 MW	7	Met12
22 October at 10:53	37 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 01:16	0 MW	1	N
21 October at 20:17	4 MW	1	Terra
21 October at 18:35	14 MW	1	Met9
21 October at 18:33	37 MW	3	Met12
21 October at 17:53	49 MW	3	Met12
21 October at 17:50	153 MW	3	Met10
21 October at 17:50	137 MW	3	Met9
21 October at 17:43	284 MW	6	Met12
21 October at 17:05	91 MW	3	Met9
21 October at 17:05	108 MW	3	Met10
21 October at 17:03	65 MW	3	Met12
21 October at 16:53	111 MW	4	Met12
21 October at 16:50	212 MW	4	Met9
21 October at 16:50	191 MW	3	Met10
21 October at 16:35	402 MW	6	Met9
21 October at 16:35	269 MW	4	Met10
21 October at 16:33	70 MW	3	Met12
21 October at 16:13	41 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 15:40	33 MW	2	Aqua
21 October at 15:33	34 MW	2	Met12
21 October at 15:23	23 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 14:10	16 MW	2	N
21 October at 13:34	8 MW	1	N21
21 October at 12:49	74 MW	5	N20
21 October at 12:30	34 MW	2	N
21 October at 01:56	1 MW	1	N20
21 October at 01:35	2 MW	2	N
21 October at 00:59	2 MW	1	N21
21 October at 00:14	3 MW	2	N20
20 October at 01:54	8 MW	4	N
19 October at 13:25	26 MW	4	N20
18 October at 13:25	16 MW	2	N
18 October at 12:49	5 MW	1	N21

8 other fires near Ruvuma (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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