Fire near Sofala (MZ)

17.02°S, 34.81°E · first detected on 6 October at 13:49

What the satellites measured

This fire was tracked from 6 October at 13:49 to 22 October at 14:10, that is 16 days, through 654 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 11,759 ha.

Detected extent: 11,759 ha
Cumulative power: 5,015 MW
Peak power, one pixel: 56 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections: 654
Estimated emissions: 596 t of carbon; Carbon burnt in the 0.1 degree cells (about 10 km) around the fire, from 6 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 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
23 October at 01:18	2 MW	1	N20
23 October at 01:01	2 MW	1	N
22 October at 15:42	10 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 15:32	26 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 15:12	19 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 15:02	42 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 14:52	60 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 14:42	13 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 14:32	142 MW	6	Met12
22 October at 14:22	26 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 14:19	46 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 14:12	12 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 14:10	97 MW	24	N20
22 October at 14:02	77 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 13:52	71 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 13:49	348 MW	25	N
22 October at 13:49	123 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 13:49	58 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 13:42	196 MW	5	Met12
22 October at 13:34	48 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 13:32	25 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 13:13	170 MW	14	N21
22 October at 13:02	42 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 12:42	59 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 12:28	45 MW	6	N20
22 October at 01:18	1 MW	1	N
21 October at 15:40	22 MW	2	Aqua
21 October at 14:12	26 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 14:08	139 MW	16	N
21 October at 13:32	210 MW	15	N21
21 October at 13:12	30 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 13:02	59 MW	2	Met12
21 October at 12:52	23 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 12:47	47 MW	12	N20
21 October at 11:42	26 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 15:22	11 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 15:12	11 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 14:42	93 MW	3	Met12
20 October at 14:22	40 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 14:19	106 MW	2	Met9
20 October at 14:19	79 MW	1	Met10
20 October at 14:12	35 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 14:04	89 MW	2	Met9
20 October at 14:02	59 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 13:49	281 MW	31	N21
20 October at 13:32	50 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 13:12	37 MW	2	Met12
20 October at 13:06	255 MW	22	N20
20 October at 12:45	210 MW	31	N
20 October at 12:22	31 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 12:19	66 MW	1	Met9
20 October at 12:12	61 MW	3	Met12
20 October at 11:42	14 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 09:52	21 MW	1	Met12
20 October at 00:33	3 MW	1	N20
19 October at 14:09	266 MW	25	N21
19 October at 13:25	214 MW	21	N20
19 October at 13:06	218 MW	31	N
19 October at 12:28	90 MW	8	N21
18 October at 15:25	12 MW	1	Aqua
18 October at 13:45	156 MW	23	N20
18 October at 13:23	145 MW	18	N
18 October at 12:47	86 MW	6	N21
17 October at 14:02	131 MW	15	N20
17 October at 13:45	127 MW	14	N
17 October at 13:06	110 MW	13	N21
17 October at 01:12	1 MW	1	N
16 October at 15:44	41 MW	4	Aqua
16 October at 14:21	6 MW	1	N20
16 October at 14:02	176 MW	20	N
16 October at 13:25	242 MW	22	N21
16 October at 12:43	96 MW	17	N20
15 October at 14:19	77 MW	9	N
15 October at 13:45	207 MW	23	N21
15 October at 13:00	90 MW	15	N20
15 October at 12:41	40 MW	3	N
14 October at 14:02	136 MW	23	N21
14 October at 13:18	221 MW	35	N20
14 October at 13:00	175 MW	28	N
14 October at 12:21	96 MW	10	N21
13 October at 13:38	98 MW	18	N20
12 October at 13:00	107 MW	13	N21
11 October at 15:53	12 MW	1	Aqua
11 October at 14:17	18 MW	4	N20
11 October at 13:55	199 MW	23	N
11 October at 13:19	86 MW	14	N21
11 October at 12:34	62 MW	10	N20
10 October at 14:14	63 MW	13	N
10 October at 13:38	148 MW	20	N21
10 October at 12:53	149 MW	21	N20
10 October at 12:34	7 MW	1	N
9 October at 13:55	52 MW	8	N21
9 October at 13:10	149 MW	23	N20
9 October at 12:51	22 MW	8	N
8 October at 15:38	23 MW	3	Aqua
8 October at 13:32	61 MW	12	N20
8 October at 13:13	59 MW	10	N
8 October at 12:34	35 MW	6	N21
7 October at 13:49	11 MW	3	N20
7 October at 13:30	29 MW	7	N
7 October at 12:53	124 MW	11	N21
6 October at 14:08	4 MW	1	N20
6 October at 13:49	6 MW	2	N
6 October at 13:13	9 MW	1	N21

8 other fires near Sofala (MZ)

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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