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Copo fire, 16 September 2016 Copo, Alberdi

Out · last detection 18 Sept 2016, 18:33 UTC

The fire started on 16 September 2016 in Copo, Argentina, and satellites saw it burning for 3 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,025 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 136th largest in Santiago del Estero since 2016 (of 320 with a page). Number 155 in Argentina in 2016, of 255.

The power measured by the satellite is low (27.6 MW in the strongest hotspot), more typical of grass or stubble burning, or a slow surface fire, than of a large crown fire.

Burnt area
2,025ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
3days
16 Sept 2016 – 18 Sept 2016
Municipalities hit
2
departments
Started on
16 Sept
2016
Heat detections
61
in a single hotspot: 28 MW
Danger at start
30
High · FWI index
Energy released
699MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

18 Sept 2016
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 16 Sept18 Sept

How it evolved, day by day

161718

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

The weather it burned in

36°high
53km/h · peak gust
21%lowest humidity

It had gone 13 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. Copo where it started
    1,384 ha reached on 16 Sept
    0.1 %
  2. Alberdi
    651 ha reached on 16 Sept
    0.0 %

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)
16 Sept 31.0 °C 21 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
17 Sept 36.0 °C 28 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
18 Sept 31.9 °C 24 % 53 km/h 0.0 mm High 38
19 Sept after 25.2 °C 29 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm High 29
20 Sept after 27.8 °C 22 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
21 Sept after 30.7 °C 17 % 40 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
22 Sept after 35.8 °C 24 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
23 Sept after 26.0 °C 42 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
24 Sept after 17.3 °C 40 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
25 Sept after 24.8 °C 25 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm High 24
26 Sept after 30.6 °C 26 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 28
27 Sept after 34.4 °C 25 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm High 33
28 Sept after 36.9 °C 26 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm High 37

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 9 Sept 2016
After · 25 Sept 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 · 61Every 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 Argentina ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Copo fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 16 September 2016 and 18 September 2016: 3 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 2,025 hectares (20.2 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Copo (1,384 ha, 0.1 %); Alberdi (651 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 36.0 °C, humidity dropped to 21 % and gusts hit 53 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 38, class High.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Argentina (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.

Emergency number: 911 · 100

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. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 911 · 100.

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.