Fire near Unité (SS)

10.02°N, 30.24°E · first detected on 21 October at 12:52

What the satellites measured

This fire was tracked from 21 October at 12:52 to 22 October at 14:17, through 77 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 1,329 ha.

Detected extent: 1,329 ha
Cumulative power: 786 MW
Peak power, one pixel: 67 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections: 77
Estimated emissions: 904 t of carbon; Carbon burnt in the 0.1 degree cells (about 10 km) around the fire, from 21 October 2026 to 22 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 4 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 16:38	33 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 16:23	147 MW	3	Met9
22 October at 16:22	137 MW	3	Met10
22 October at 16:07	28 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 16:07	85 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 15:55	49 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 15:52	42 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 15:52	46 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 15:45	24 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 15:37	45 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 15:37	91 MW	2	Met10
22 October at 15:22	139 MW	3	Met10
22 October at 15:22	62 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 15:15	49 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 15:07	138 MW	3	Met10
22 October at 15:07	100 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 15:05	29 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 14:55	217 MW	6	Met12
22 October at 14:52	313 MW	4	Met10
22 October at 14:52	259 MW	3	Met9
22 October at 14:37	156 MW	3	Met10
22 October at 14:37	115 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 14:25	27 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 14:22	120 MW	2	Met10
22 October at 14:22	66 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 14:17	150 MW	15	N20
22 October at 14:15	98 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 14:07	238 MW	2	Met9
22 October at 14:07	295 MW	3	Met10
22 October at 14:05	185 MW	6	Met12
22 October at 13:57	165 MW	20	N
22 October at 13:55	251 MW	8	Met12
22 October at 13:52	485 MW	5	Met9
22 October at 13:52	136 MW	1	Met10
22 October at 13:45	342 MW	7	Met12
22 October at 13:37	228 MW	3	Met10
22 October at 13:37	318 MW	4	Met9
22 October at 13:35	209 MW	6	Met12
22 October at 13:25	304 MW	7	Met12
22 October at 13:22	813 MW	4	Met9
22 October at 13:22	623 MW	4	Met10
22 October at 13:19	162 MW	16	N21
22 October at 13:15	195 MW	7	Met12
22 October at 13:07	341 MW	4	Met9
22 October at 13:05	373 MW	7	Met12
22 October at 12:55	419 MW	7	Met12
22 October at 12:52	908 MW	6	Met9
22 October at 12:45	425 MW	7	Met12
22 October at 12:37	353 MW	4	Met9
22 October at 12:36	84 MW	7	N20
22 October at 12:35	142 MW	4	Met12
22 October at 12:25	189 MW	5	Met12
22 October at 12:22	81 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 12:15	22 MW	1	Met12
22 October at 12:07	191 MW	1	Met9
22 October at 11:55	25 MW	2	Met12
22 October at 11:45	78 MW	3	Met12
21 October at 16:53	27 MW	1	Met9
21 October at 16:45	16 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 16:38	41 MW	1	Met9
21 October at 16:35	34 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 16:25	25 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 16:07	55 MW	2	Met9
21 October at 16:05	23 MW	2	Met12
21 October at 15:55	24 MW	2	Met12
21 October at 15:52	34 MW	1	Met9
21 October at 15:46	25 MW	2	Aqua
21 October at 15:45	10 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 15:37	55 MW	1	Met9
21 October at 15:22	234 MW	2	Met9
21 October at 15:15	563 MW	7	Met12
21 October at 15:07	207 MW	2	Met10
21 October at 15:07	337 MW	3	Met9
21 October at 15:05	34 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 14:52	261 MW	2	Met9
21 October at 14:25	41 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 14:17	52 MW	6	N
21 October at 14:15	22 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 13:40	51 MW	8	N21
21 October at 13:25	146 MW	3	Met12
21 October at 13:05	13 MW	1	Met12
21 October at 12:56	97 MW	3	N20
21 October at 12:52	30 MW	1	Met9

8 other fires near Unité (SS)

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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