Fire near Septentrionale (ZM)

11.28°S, 30.58°E · first detected on 3 October at 15:44

What the satellites measured

This fire was tracked from 3 October at 15:44 to 20 October at 13:51, that is 17 days, through 149 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 2,635 ha.

Detected extent: 2,635 ha
Cumulative power: 1,799 MW
Peak power, one pixel: 125 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections: 149
Estimated emissions: 6.9 kt of carbon; Carbon burnt in the 0.1 degree cells (about 10 km) around the fire, from 5 October 2026 to 20 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 19 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
21 October at 12:49	50 MW	5	N20
21 October at 12:04	93 MW	1	Met10
21 October at 11:43	14 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 20:43	25 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 20:33	11 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 20:23	35 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 20:13	53 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 20:03	107 MW	4	Met12
20 October at 19:33	86 MW	4	Met12
20 October at 19:13	31 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 19:03	14 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 18:53	57 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 18:43	49 MW	3	Met12
20 October at 18:33	84 MW	4	Met12
20 October at 18:23	83 MW	5	Met12
20 October at 18:13	41 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 18:03	73 MW	5	Met12
20 October at 17:53	86 MW	6	Met12
20 October at 17:43	15 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 17:33	21 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 17:13	30 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 16:53	46 MW	3	Met12
20 October at 16:13	69 MW	4	Met12
20 October at 16:03	40 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 13:53	32 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 13:51	156 MW	13	N21
20 October at 13:08	51 MW	5	N20
20 October at 12:47	47 MW	4	N
19 October at 20:03	37 MW	2	Met12
19 October at 19:53	67 MW	3	Met12
19 October at 19:05	30 MW	1	Met10
19 October at 19:05	21 MW	1	Met9
19 October at 18:05	18 MW	1	Met10
19 October at 18:05	14 MW	1	Met9
19 October at 18:03	44 MW	3	Met12
19 October at 17:53	19 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 17:50	19 MW	1	Met10
19 October at 17:50	16 MW	1	Met9
19 October at 17:33	14 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 16:53	39 MW	3	Met12
19 October at 16:50	16 MW	1	Met9
19 October at 16:35	30 MW	1	Met10
19 October at 16:35	23 MW	1	Met9
19 October at 16:33	74 MW	3	Met12
19 October at 16:13	27 MW	2	Met12
19 October at 16:05	43 MW	1	Met9
19 October at 16:03	72 MW	3	Met12
19 October at 16:01	143 MW	8	Aqua
19 October at 15:53	299 MW	7	Met12
19 October at 15:50	114 MW	3	Met9
19 October at 15:43	51 MW	3	Met12
19 October at 15:05	321 MW	3	Met9
19 October at 15:05	150 MW	1	Met10
19 October at 15:03	124 MW	3	Met12
19 October at 14:53	15 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 14:50	26 MW	1	Met9
19 October at 14:23	15 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 14:10	30 MW	4	N21
19 October at 13:08	9 MW	1	N
19 October at 11:43	19 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 11:13	21 MW	1	Met12
19 October at 10:49	57 MW	1	Met10
19 October at 10:49	110 MW	1	Met9
19 October at 10:34	73 MW	1	Met10
18 October at 12:49	80 MW	6	N21
17 October at 14:04	184 MW	13	N20
17 October at 13:47	122 MW	8	N
17 October at 13:08	165 MW	13	N21
17 October at 08:42	13 MW	1	Terra
17 October at 01:29	8 MW	8	N20
17 October at 01:09	5 MW	4	N
17 October at 00:33	20 MW	8	N21
16 October at 15:46	140 MW	5	Aqua
16 October at 14:23	493 MW	25	N20
16 October at 14:04	531 MW	35	N
16 October at 13:25	425 MW	22	N21
16 October at 12:43	501 MW	23	N20
16 October at 01:48	11 MW	8	N20
16 October at 01:29	16 MW	18	N
16 October at 00:52	21 MW	13	N21
15 October at 21:17	129 MW	3	Terra
15 October at 15:08	226 MW	2	Aqua
15 October at 14:21	700 MW	65	N
15 October at 13:47	680 MW	41	N21
15 October at 13:02	904 MW	78	N20
15 October at 02:07	6 MW	4	N20
15 October at 01:48	9 MW	6	N
15 October at 01:09	12 MW	9	N21
15 October at 00:27	17 MW	6	N20
14 October at 20:36	18 MW	2	Terra
14 October at 14:04	169 MW	22	N21
14 October at 13:19	260 MW	20	N20
14 October at 13:02	411 MW	42	N
14 October at 08:25	6 MW	1	Terra
14 October at 01:29	2 MW	2	N21
14 October at 00:46	4 MW	4	N20
13 October at 15:31	28 MW	1	Aqua
13 October at 14:23	14 MW	1	N21
13 October at 13:40	85 MW	12	N20
12 October at 13:02	82 MW	10	N21
11 October at 13:57	103 MW	10	N
11 October at 13:19	333 MW	17	N21
11 October at 01:41	3 MW	3	N20
11 October at 01:22	2 MW	3	N
11 October at 00:46	1 MW	1	N21
10 October at 14:17	501 MW	62	N
10 October at 13:40	681 MW	38	N21
10 October at 12:56	501 MW	44	N20
10 October at 09:03	140 MW	3	Terra
10 October at 02:01	1 MW	1	N20
10 October at 01:03	2 MW	2	N21
9 October at 20:38	16 MW	2	Terra
9 October at 14:34	49 MW	5	N
9 October at 13:57	240 MW	13	N21
9 October at 13:13	152 MW	18	N20
9 October at 12:53	179 MW	19	N
9 October at 08:25	53 MW	3	Terra
9 October at 02:01	6 MW	3	N
9 October at 01:24	17 MW	8	N21
9 October at 00:40	14 MW	9	N20
8 October at 13:34	31 MW	5	N20
8 October at 13:15	87 MW	3	N
8 October at 12:36	104 MW	4	N21
7 October at 13:51	30 MW	2	N20
7 October at 13:32	52 MW	5	N
7 October at 12:56	38 MW	10	N21
7 October at 08:44	12 MW	1	Terra
6 October at 13:51	80 MW	10	N
6 October at 13:15	45 MW	4	N21
5 October at 15:21	91 MW	1	Aqua
5 October at 14:29	29 MW	2	N20
5 October at 14:10	23 MW	3	N
5 October at 13:34	22 MW	3	N21
5 October at 12:49	11 MW	1	N20
3 October at 15:44	14 MW	2	Aqua
3 October at 13:25	9 MW	2	N20

8 other fires near Septentrionale (ZM)

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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