Skip to content
worldfires
MZ · Mozambique · →

Ribaué fire, 9 September 2016 Gilé, Alto Molocue, Ribaué

Out · last detection 1 Oct 2016, 22:15 UTC

The fire started on 9 September 2016 in Ribaué, Mozambique, and satellites saw it burning for 22 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 63,932 hectares from heat detections, spread across 4 municipalities.

It is the 2th largest in Nampula since 2016 (of 393 with a page). Number 5 in Mozambique in 2016, of 194.

Burnt area
63,932ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
22days
9 Sept 2016 – 30 Sept 2016
Municipalities hit
4
districts
Started on
9 Sept
2016
Heat detections
3,609
in a single hotspot: 177 MW
Danger at start
27
High · FWI index
Energy released
46.5GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

1 Oct 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 9 Sept30 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

910111213141516171819212223242526272829301

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

34°high
44km/h · peak gust
22%lowest humidity

It had gone 9 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

No earlier perimeters overlap this fire since 2016, when the satellite record begins.

What happened to each town

  1. Gilé
    46,168 ha reached on 5 Sept
    5.1 %
  2. Alto Molocue
    7,836 ha reached on 14 Sept
    1.2 %
  3. Ribaué where it started
    6,717 ha reached on 3 Sept
    1.1 %
  4. Murrupula
    3,494 ha reached on 6 Sept
    1.1 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance is from the town centre to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

The weather day by day

ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, the standard reference for past weather, and the Canadian Fire Weather Index (the same system Copernicus uses), computed by WorldFires from that data. Days after the fire run until the first rain.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
3 Sept 27.8 °C 38 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
4 Sept 28.4 °C 32 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 27
5 Sept 30.1 °C 30 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
6 Sept 30.0 °C 34 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
7 Sept 30.1 °C 36 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
8 Sept 31.7 °C 33 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
9 Sept 31.7 °C 24 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
10 Sept 32.9 °C 30 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
11 Sept 30.7 °C 35 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
12 Sept 29.8 °C 36 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
13 Sept 31.1 °C 30 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
14 Sept 30.8 °C 38 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 31
15 Sept 30.7 °C 33 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
16 Sept 32.8 °C 26 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
17 Sept 32.7 °C 23 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
18 Sept 31.6 °C 29 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
19 Sept 29.6 °C 39 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
20 Sept 27.9 °C 45 % 32 km/h 0.2 mm High 27
21 Sept 29.5 °C 36 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
22 Sept 32.6 °C 27 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
23 Sept 33.0 °C 27 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
24 Sept 33.5 °C 24 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
25 Sept 34.3 °C 22 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
26 Sept 30.5 °C 36 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
27 Sept 31.6 °C 34 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
28 Sept 32.0 °C 30 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
29 Sept 32.4 °C 36 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
30 Sept 32.8 °C 25 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
1 Oct after 33.8 °C 27 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
2 Oct after 32.8 °C 32 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
3 Oct after 31.4 °C 37 % 44 km/h 5.4 mm Low 11
4 Oct after 21.4 °C 73 % 34 km/h 7.9 mm Very low 0
5 Oct after 28.6 °C 36 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
6 Oct after 30.9 °C 32 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
7 Oct after 32.3 °C 35 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
8 Oct after 32.6 °C 30 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 26
9 Oct after 32.4 °C 35 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
10 Oct after 34.0 °C 29 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
11 Oct after 34.5 °C 24 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
12 Oct after 34.5 °C 27 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
13 Oct after 34.1 °C 26 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
14 Oct after 31.3 °C 34 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
15 Oct after 30.6 °C 43 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 26

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 2 Sept 2016
After · 7 Oct 2016

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

Detections table · 3,609Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Mozambique ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Ribaué fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 9 September 2016 and 30 September 2016: 22 days between the first and last heat detection of the perimeter.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 63,932 hectares (639.3 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 4 municipalities: Gilé (46,168 ha, 5.1 %); Alto Molocue (7,836 ha, 1.2 %); Ribaué (6,717 ha, 1.1 %); Murrupula (3,494 ha, 1.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 34.3 °C, humidity dropped to 22 % and gusts hit 44 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 42, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Mozambique (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.

Where to verify it

A satellite detection is not an official report. Final figures and the fire’s status are published by each country’s emergency service.

Satellite cross-check

Does something look wrong on this page?

This page is built from satellite data and official records, and it sometimes gets things wrong: the wrong dates, the wrong town, two fires merged into one, or something that was not a wildfire at all. If you know this fire first-hand (you live nearby, saw it, fought it or reported on it), tell us what really happened and we will check it.

Report an error
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy.

Where this data comes from

The perimeter comes from the Copernicus Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS), which rebuilds it from MODIS and VIIRS heat detections and publishes it under CC BY 4.0. It is not measured on imagery as in Europe, so it is an estimate. Heat detections come from the VIIRS sensors aboard Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20, distributed by NASA FIRMS at 375 m resolution. Municipal boundaries come from geoBoundaries ADM2 (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY 3.0 IGO)). The area per municipality is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ from each country’s official figure.