Fire near Tete (MZ)

15.86°S, 33.10°E · first detected on 7 October at 13:32

What the satellites measured

This fire was tracked from 7 October at 13:32 to 18 October at 13:45, that is 11 days, through 128 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 1,901 ha.

Detected extent: 1,901 ha
Cumulative power: 712 MW
Peak power, one pixel: 24 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections: 128
Estimated emissions: 1.4 kt of carbon; Carbon burnt in the 0.1 degree cells (about 10 km) around the fire, from 7 October 2026 to 18 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 14 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
19 October at 13:25	656 MW	66	N20
19 October at 13:06	1,118 MW	88	N
19 October at 12:28	854 MW	48	N21
19 October at 08:25	6 MW	1	Terra
19 October at 01:37	15 MW	8	N21
19 October at 00:54	16 MW	7	N20
19 October at 00:33	8 MW	4	N
18 October at 15:25	46 MW	3	Aqua
18 October at 13:45	611 MW	69	N20
18 October at 13:23	435 MW	51	N
18 October at 12:47	449 MW	75	N21
18 October at 01:56	3 MW	1	N21
18 October at 01:12	12 MW	5	N20
18 October at 00:52	7 MW	2	N
18 October at 00:16	4 MW	1	N21
17 October at 14:04	152 MW	19	N20
17 October at 13:45	352 MW	39	N
17 October at 13:06	232 MW	15	N21
17 October at 08:44	22 MW	1	Terra
17 October at 01:31	19 MW	14	N20
17 October at 01:12	28 MW	20	N
17 October at 00:33	23 MW	9	N21
16 October at 15:44	8 MW	1	Aqua
16 October at 14:21	25 MW	4	N20
16 October at 14:02	137 MW	24	N
16 October at 13:25	169 MW	19	N21
16 October at 12:43	58 MW	9	N20
16 October at 08:05	8 MW	1	Terra
16 October at 01:50	4 MW	1	N20
16 October at 01:29	12 MW	2	N
15 October at 15:08	33 MW	1	Aqua
15 October at 14:21	211 MW	31	N
15 October at 13:45	515 MW	52	N21
15 October at 13:00	274 MW	30	N20
15 October at 12:41	77 MW	9	N
15 October at 01:50	7 MW	3	N
15 October at 01:12	29 MW	17	N21
15 October at 00:27	25 MW	14	N20
14 October at 20:36	22 MW	3	Terra
14 October at 14:04	128 MW	14	N21
14 October at 13:19	284 MW	35	N20
14 October at 13:00	509 MW	46	N
14 October at 02:07	5 MW	2	N
14 October at 01:31	18 MW	8	N21
14 October at 00:48	13 MW	7	N20
14 October at 00:29	9 MW	3	N
13 October at 15:29	23 MW	2	Aqua
13 October at 14:21	72 MW	6	N21
13 October at 13:38	520 MW	67	N20
12 October at 13:00	386 MW	65	N21
12 October at 01:24	10 MW	5	N20
12 October at 01:05	6 MW	5	N
12 October at 00:29	5 MW	4	N21
11 October at 15:53	130 MW	13	Aqua
11 October at 14:17	226 MW	30	N20
11 October at 13:55	435 MW	66	N
11 October at 13:19	326 MW	55	N21
11 October at 12:36	138 MW	22	N20
11 October at 08:08	21 MW	1	Terra
11 October at 01:44	8 MW	6	N20
11 October at 01:24	19 MW	15	N
11 October at 00:48	16 MW	10	N21
10 October at 15:14	51 MW	2	Aqua
10 October at 14:14	346 MW	79	N
10 October at 13:38	571 MW	80	N21
10 October at 12:53	301 MW	89	N20
10 October at 02:01	3 MW	1	N20
10 October at 01:05	13 MW	7	N21
10 October at 00:22	3 MW	2	N20
9 October at 14:34	53 MW	5	N
9 October at 13:55	374 MW	40	N21
9 October at 13:12	348 MW	72	N20
9 October at 12:53	137 MW	35	N
9 October at 02:03	2 MW	1	N
9 October at 01:24	11 MW	7	N21
9 October at 00:40	6 MW	3	N20
8 October at 15:38	63 MW	7	Aqua
8 October at 14:17	99 MW	8	N21
8 October at 13:32	107 MW	29	N20
8 October at 13:13	167 MW	38	N
8 October at 12:36	60 MW	7	N21
8 October at 01:44	2 MW	1	N21
8 October at 01:01	7 MW	4	N20
8 October at 00:40	3 MW	2	N
7 October at 13:49	474 MW	58	N20
7 October at 13:32	422 MW	86	N
7 October at 12:53	385 MW	50	N21
7 October at 01:18	7 MW	4	N20
7 October at 00:59	5 MW	4	N
7 October at 00:22	3 MW	1	N21
6 October at 14:10	57 MW	14	N20
6 October at 13:49	98 MW	27	N
6 October at 13:15	55 MW	7	N21

8 other fires near Tete (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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