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Ayod fire, December 2023 Ayod, Duk

Out · last detection 27 Jan 2024, 23:11 UTC

The fire started on 23 December 2023 in Ayod, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 36 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 29,281 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 14th largest in Jonglei since 2016 (of 427 with a page). Number 3 in South Sudan in 2023, of 106.

Burnt area
29,281ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
36days
23 Dec 2023 – 27 Jan 2024
Municipalities hit
2
counties
Started on
23 Dec
2023
Heat detections
1,839
in a single hotspot: 206 MW
Danger at start
52
Extreme · FWI index
Energy released
25.2GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

27 Jan 2024
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 23 Dec27 Jan

How it evolved, day by day

23242528293031123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627

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

The weather it burned in

40°high
46km/h · peak gust
8%lowest humidity

It had gone 34 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

12% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 2,273 ha in 2016, 1,408 ha in 2017.

What happened to each town

  1. Ayod where it started
    24,140 ha reached on 23 Dec
    1.8 %
  2. Duk
    5,317 ha reached on 23 Dec
    0.8 %

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)
23 Dec 39.5 °C 11 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
24 Dec 38.0 °C 11 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
25 Dec 38.2 °C 10 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
26 Dec 37.5 °C 13 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
27 Dec 37.6 °C 16 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
28 Dec 36.4 °C 15 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
29 Dec 37.3 °C 12 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
30 Dec 37.5 °C 13 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
31 Dec 37.3 °C 12 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
1 Jan 36.8 °C 12 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 48
2 Jan 38.3 °C 13 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
3 Jan 37.9 °C 10 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
4 Jan 37.8 °C 10 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
5 Jan 36.3 °C 11 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
6 Jan 37.0 °C 10 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
7 Jan 36.5 °C 11 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
8 Jan 37.9 °C 10 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
9 Jan 38.5 °C 12 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
10 Jan 38.9 °C 13 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
11 Jan 39.0 °C 14 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
12 Jan 37.5 °C 14 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
13 Jan 37.6 °C 12 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
14 Jan 38.7 °C 11 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
15 Jan 37.7 °C 11 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 67
16 Jan 36.5 °C 10 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
17 Jan 36.5 °C 16 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
18 Jan 35.3 °C 12 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
19 Jan 36.8 °C 8 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
20 Jan 37.1 °C 8 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
21 Jan 37.1 °C 9 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
22 Jan 38.4 °C 10 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
23 Jan 39.2 °C 11 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
24 Jan 39.0 °C 13 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
25 Jan 38.8 °C 13 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
26 Jan 36.6 °C 11 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 70
27 Jan 34.4 °C 9 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
28 Jan after 36.1 °C 10 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
29 Jan after 36.1 °C 11 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
30 Jan after 37.2 °C 10 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
31 Jan after 36.6 °C 10 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
1 Feb after 36.8 °C 11 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 67
2 Feb after 36.2 °C 9 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 68
3 Feb after 37.0 °C 9 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 69
4 Feb after 36.3 °C 8 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 69
5 Feb after 37.2 °C 11 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 70
6 Feb after 37.0 °C 12 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 67

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 16 Dec 2023
After · 3 Feb 2024

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 · 1,839Every 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 South Sudan ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Ayod fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 23 December 2023 and 27 January 2024: 36 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 29,281 hectares (292.8 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Ayod (24,140 ha, 1.8 %); Duk (5,317 ha, 0.8 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 39.5 °C, humidity dropped to 8 % and gusts hit 46 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 70, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of South 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.

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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.