Fire near Tamatave (MG)

20.41°S, 48.09°E · first detected on 19 October at 13:04

What the satellites measured

This fire was tracked from 19 October at 13:04 to 23 October at 13:30, that is 4 days, through 75 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 1,115 ha.

Detected extent: 1,115 ha
Cumulative power: 1,405 MW
Peak power, one pixel: 76 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections: 75
Estimated emissions: 4.6 kt of carbon; Carbon burnt in the 0.1 degree cells (about 10 km) around the fire, from 19 October 2026 to 23 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 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
23 October at 13:34	97 MW	2	Met9
23 October at 13:28	28 MW	3	N
23 October at 13:19	123 MW	3	Met9
23 October at 13:12	128 MW	4	Met12
23 October at 13:04	281 MW	4	Met9
23 October at 13:02	425 MW	7	Met12
23 October at 12:52	310 MW	7	Met12
23 October at 12:51	442 MW	20	N21
23 October at 12:48	561 MW	7	Met9
23 October at 12:42	642 MW	8	Met12
23 October at 12:34	317 MW	1	Met10
23 October at 12:33	694 MW	7	Met9
23 October at 12:32	459 MW	8	Met12
23 October at 12:22	94 MW	3	Met12
23 October at 12:18	29 MW	1	Met9
23 October at 12:09	101 MW	6	N20
23 October at 12:03	35 MW	1	Met9
23 October at 12:02	11 MW	1	Met12
23 October at 11:52	29 MW	2	Met12
23 October at 11:47	36 MW	2	N
22 October at 17:12	10 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 17:02	23 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 16:49	37 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 16:42	266 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 16:32	38 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 16:22	163 MW	6	Met12
22 October at 16:19	36 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 15:49	46 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 15:42	265 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 15:34	251 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 14:36	12 MW	1	Aqua
22 October at 14:04	182 MW	3	Met9
22 October at 13:52	102 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 13:49	376 MW	4	Met9
22 October at 13:42	85 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 13:34	362 MW	5	Met9
22 October at 13:32	261 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 13:22	216 MW	7	Met12
22 October at 13:19	186 MW	5	Met9
22 October at 13:12	50 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 13:10	162 MW	12	N21
22 October at 13:04	265 MW	6	Met9
22 October at 13:02	57 MW	3	Met12
22 October at 12:52	31 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 12:48	69 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 12:42	68 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 12:33	208 MW	4	Met9
22 October at 12:32	72 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 12:28	287 MW	16	N20
22 October at 12:22	144 MW	7	Met12
22 October at 12:18	454 MW	7	Met9
22 October at 12:12	465 MW	9	Met12
22 October at 12:09	190 MW	9	N
22 October at 12:03	392 MW	4	Met9
22 October at 12:02	278 MW	7	Met12
22 October at 11:52	89 MW	5	Met12
22 October at 11:48	122 MW	3	Met9
22 October at 11:42	68 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 11:33	26 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 11:30	31 MW	3	N21
22 October at 11:18	28 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 11:12	55 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 11:03	33 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 11:02	84 MW	2	Met12
21 October at 18:49	33 MW	1	Met9
21 October at 16:34	23 MW	1	Met9
21 October at 16:22	17 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 16:19	63 MW	2	Met9
21 October at 16:04	64 MW	3	Met9
21 October at 16:02	12 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 15:49	35 MW	2	Met9
21 October at 14:02	14 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 13:52	69 MW	3	Met12
21 October at 13:49	119 MW	3	Met9
21 October at 13:42	149 MW	5	Met12
21 October at 13:32	25 MW	2	Met12
21 October at 13:22	110 MW	4	Met12
21 October at 13:19	80 MW	2	Met9
21 October at 13:18	92 MW	2	Met9
21 October at 13:12	57 MW	3	Met12
21 October at 13:02	18 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 12:52	72 MW	3	Met12
21 October at 12:48	82 MW	2	Met9
21 October at 12:45	191 MW	10	N20
21 October at 12:42	777 MW	10	Met12
21 October at 12:33	81 MW	3	Met9
21 October at 12:32	109 MW	5	Met12
21 October at 12:26	45 MW	4	N
21 October at 11:49	21 MW	1	N21
20 October at 19:34	8 MW	1	Terra
20 October at 14:59	14 MW	2	Aqua
20 October at 13:04	114 MW	5	N20
20 October at 12:45	124 MW	6	N
19 October at 13:04	11 MW	2	N
19 October at 12:28	1 MW	1	N21

8 other fires near Tamatave (MG)

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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