Abyei PCA area fire, January 2016 Abyei PCA area
The fire started on 13 January 2016 in Abyei PCA area, Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 5 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 4,005 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 24th largest in Abyei PCA since 2016 (of 91 with a page). Number 46 in Sudan in 2016, of 169.
- Burnt area
- 4,005ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 5days
- 13 Jan 2016 – 17 Jan 2016
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- localities
- Started on
- 13 Jan
- 2016
- Heat detections
- 139
- in a single hotspot: 45 MW
- Danger at start
- 62
- Extreme · FWI index
- Energy released
- 900MW
- sum of detected power
Where it burned
How it evolved, day by day
Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.
The weather it burned in
It had gone 42 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
-
Abyei PCA area where it started4,029 ha reached on 13 Jan0.4 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 Jan | 37.0 °C | 10 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 14 Jan | 36.8 °C | 11 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 15 Jan | 36.3 °C | 11 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 65 |
| 16 Jan | 36.5 °C | 10 % | 37 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 63 |
| 17 Jan | 37.5 °C | 12 % | 32 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 18 Jan after | 38.8 °C | 10 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
| 19 Jan after | 36.2 °C | 8 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 20 Jan after | 34.9 °C | 7 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 61 |
| 21 Jan after | 35.6 °C | 7 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 22 Jan after | 37.7 °C | 8 % | 30 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 23 Jan after | 37.9 °C | 8 % | 36 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 24 Jan after | 35.9 °C | 8 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 69 |
| 25 Jan after | 32.3 °C | 9 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 66 |
| 26 Jan after | 31.3 °C | 9 % | 41 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 65 |
| 27 Jan after | 29.9 °C | 8 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
Before and after, from space
Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.
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 · 139Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
- 7,450 haAbyei PCA area19 November 2017 · 8 days · 11 km away
- 11,585 haAbyei PCA area10 December 2021 · 5 days · 12 km away
- 7,406 haAbyei PCA area25 November 2021 · 13 days · 20 km away
- 30,332 haAbyei PCA area29 November 2017 · 23 days · 29 km away
- 10,029 haAbyei PCA area7 November 2017 · 9 days · 32 km away
- 7,561 haAbyei PCA area19 November 2025 · 6 days · 38 km away
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Abyei PCA area fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 13 January 2016 and 17 January 2016: 5 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 4,005 hectares (40.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Abyei PCA area (4,029 ha, 0.4 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 37.5 °C, humidity dropped to 10 % and gusts hit 42 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 65, class Extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Sudan (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
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.