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Ghadeer fire, 9 November 2017 Ghadeer, Abu Jubayhah

Out · last detection 16 Nov 2017, 11:07 UTC

The fire started on 9 November 2017 in Ghadeer, Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 19,361 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 5th largest in South Kordofan since 2016 (of 440 with a page). Number 2 in Sudan in 2017, of 137.

Burnt area
19,361ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
7days
9 Nov 2017 – 15 Nov 2017
Municipalities hit
2
localities
Started on
9 Nov
2017
Heat detections
530
in a single hotspot: 90 MW
Danger at start
35
High · FWI index
Energy released
5.8GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

16 Nov 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 9 Nov15 Nov

How it evolved, day by day

910111213141516

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

The weather it burned in

39°high
42km/h · peak gust
15%lowest humidity

It had gone 5 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

17% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 3,350 ha in 2016.

What happened to each town

  1. Ghadeer where it started
    16,707 ha reached on 9 Nov
    2.5 %
  2. Abu Jubayhah
    2,741 ha reached on 12 Nov
    0.1 %

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)
9 Nov 37.9 °C 19 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
10 Nov 38.5 °C 16 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
11 Nov 37.6 °C 16 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
12 Nov 37.3 °C 15 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
13 Nov 36.2 °C 31 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm High 30
14 Nov 38.5 °C 18 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
15 Nov 39.2 °C 17 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
16 Nov after 38.2 °C 20 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
17 Nov after 37.8 °C 20 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm High 34
18 Nov after 37.9 °C 19 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
19 Nov after 38.9 °C 17 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
20 Nov after 39.2 °C 12 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
21 Nov after 37.6 °C 14 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 50
22 Nov after 36.6 °C 10 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 52
23 Nov after 35.6 °C 11 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
24 Nov after 35.7 °C 16 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
25 Nov after 36.7 °C 16 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 2 Nov 2017
After · 22 Nov 2017

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 · 530Every 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 Sudan ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Ghadeer fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 9 November 2017 and 15 November 2017: 7 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 19,361 hectares (193.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Ghadeer (16,707 ha, 2.5 %); Abu Jubayhah (2,741 ha, 0.1 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 39.2 °C, humidity dropped to 15 % and gusts hit 42 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 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.