Fire near Vallée du Rift (KE)

2.70°S, 37.87°E · first detected on 6 September at 10:44

What the satellites measured

This fire was tracked from 6 September at 10:44 to 6 September at 15:04, through 74 satellite detections. The detected extent reaches 782 ha.

Detected extent: 782 ha
Cumulative power: 1,692 MW
Peak power, one pixel: 118 MW
VIIRS and MODIS detections: 74

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 375 m pixel counts in full 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 and loads only its detections. The timeline below covers the whole known life of the fire, from the first trace, satellite or report, to the last announcement from emergency services, and the ticks on the bar mark those announcements. Detections often stop before containment: a fire stops radiating once it stops spreading, which is exactly when it is declared contained. “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. “12 h” stacks twelve hours , as the home map does, where stacking avoids an empty screen between two satellite passes. 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 3 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
6 September at 22:06	11 MW	1	Met9
6 September at 19:36	19 MW	1	Met10
6 September at 19:36	14 MW	1	Met9
6 September at 19:34	11 MW	1	Met12
6 September at 19:24	14 MW	1	Met12
6 September at 19:21	21 MW	2	Met9
6 September at 19:21	21 MW	1	Met10
6 September at 19:06	12 MW	1	Met9
6 September at 18:36	15 MW	1	Met9
6 September at 18:21	18 MW	1	Met10
6 September at 18:21	16 MW	1	Met9
6 September at 18:06	15 MW	1	Met9
6 September at 18:04	11 MW	1	Met12
6 September at 17:51	20 MW	1	Met9
6 September at 17:36	54 MW	3	Met9
6 September at 17:34	14 MW	1	Met12
6 September at 17:24	53 MW	2	Met12
6 September at 17:21	81 MW	2	Met10
6 September at 17:21	87 MW	3	Met9
6 September at 17:14	53 MW	3	Met12
6 September at 17:06	30 MW	1	Met9
6 September at 17:06	54 MW	1	Met10
6 September at 17:04	41 MW	2	Met12
6 September at 16:54	58 MW	2	Met12
6 September at 16:51	59 MW	1	Met10
6 September at 16:51	107 MW	3	Met9
6 September at 16:44	28 MW	2	Met12
6 September at 16:36	58 MW	2	Met9
6 September at 16:36	57 MW	1	Met10
6 September at 16:34	32 MW	2	Met12
6 September at 16:24	41 MW	2	Met12
6 September at 16:21	174 MW	3	Met10
6 September at 16:21	209 MW	5	Met9
6 September at 16:14	46 MW	2	Met12
6 September at 16:06	548 MW	8	Met9
6 September at 16:05	226 MW	3	Met10
6 September at 16:04	233 MW	8	Met12
6 September at 15:54	134 MW	5	Met12
6 September at 15:51	250 MW	4	Met9
6 September at 15:50	170 MW	2	Met10
6 September at 15:44	322 MW	5	Met12
6 September at 15:36	299 MW	4	Met9
6 September at 15:35	248 MW	2	Met10
6 September at 15:34	77 MW	3	Met12
6 September at 15:24	63 MW	3	Met12
6 September at 15:21	222 MW	4	Met9
6 September at 15:20	174 MW	2	Met10
6 September at 15:14	76 MW	3	Met12
6 September at 15:06	231 MW	3	Met9
6 September at 15:05	152 MW	1	Met10
6 September at 15:04	215 MW	6	Met12
6 September at 15:04	169 MW	3	Aqua
6 September at 14:54	871 MW	11	Met12
6 September at 14:51	134 MW	2	Met9
6 September at 14:50	488 MW	3	Met9
6 September at 14:50	410 MW	2	Met10
6 September at 14:44	359 MW	6	Met12
6 September at 14:35	393 MW	4	Met9
6 September at 14:35	195 MW	1	Met10
6 September at 14:34	447 MW	9	Met12
6 September at 14:24	606 MW	10	Met12
6 September at 14:20	466 MW	4	Met9
6 September at 14:20	445 MW	2	Met10
6 September at 14:14	418 MW	8	Met12
6 September at 14:05	707 MW	4	Met9
6 September at 14:05	587 MW	2	Met10
6 September at 14:04	754 MW	5	Met12
6 September at 13:54	678 MW	8	Met12
6 September at 13:50	665 MW	3	Met10
6 September at 13:50	367 MW	2	Met9
6 September at 13:44	783 MW	7	Met12
6 September at 13:35	338 MW	3	Met9
6 September at 13:35	475 MW	3	Met10
6 September at 13:34	351 MW	6	Met12
6 September at 13:34	656 MW	44	N20
6 September at 13:24	264 MW	5	Met12
6 September at 13:20	277 MW	3	Met9
6 September at 13:20	426 MW	3	Met10
6 September at 13:17	501 MW	20	N
6 September at 13:14	469 MW	5	Met12
6 September at 13:05	269 MW	2	Met10
6 September at 13:05	262 MW	3	Met9
6 September at 13:04	226 MW	4	Met12
6 September at 12:54	178 MW	4	Met12
6 September at 12:50	149 MW	2	Met9
6 September at 12:44	296 MW	4	Met12
6 September at 12:38	365 MW	7	N21
6 September at 12:35	736 MW	4	Met9
6 September at 12:34	651 MW	8	Met12
6 September at 12:24	407 MW	5	Met12
6 September at 12:20	77 MW	1	Met9
6 September at 12:14	176 MW	3	Met12
6 September at 12:04	82 MW	3	Met12
6 September at 11:14	124 MW	2	Met12
6 September at 11:04	40 MW	1	Met12
6 September at 10:44	30 MW	1	Met12

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