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Gog fire, 25 December 2016 Gog, Abobo

Out · last detection 1 Jan 2017, 23:24 UTC

The fire started on 25 December 2016 in Gog, Ethiopia, and satellites saw it burning for 7 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 3,148 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 285th largest in Gambela since 2016 (of 611 with a page). Number 132 in Ethiopia in 2016, of 309.

Burnt area
3,148ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
7days
25 Dec 2016 – 31 Dec 2016
Municipalities hit
2
districts
Started on
25 Dec
2016
Heat detections
94
in a single hotspot: 39 MW
Danger at start
37
High · FWI index
Energy released
656MW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

1 Jan 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 25 Dec31 Dec

How it evolved, day by day

252627282930311

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
33km/h · peak gust
17%lowest humidity

It had gone 31 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. Gog where it started
    2,656 ha reached on 24 Dec
    0.8 %
  2. Abobo
    514 ha reached on 28 Dec
    0.2 %

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)
25 Dec 38.2 °C 24 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm High 37
26 Dec 36.5 °C 26 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm High 35
27 Dec 36.6 °C 24 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm High 36
28 Dec 37.5 °C 22 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
29 Dec 39.1 °C 17 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
30 Dec 39.3 °C 18 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 40
31 Dec 38.1 °C 22 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
1 Jan after 37.5 °C 21 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
2 Jan after 38.9 °C 17 % 21 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 41
3 Jan after 38.5 °C 18 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 42
4 Jan after 38.2 °C 16 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
5 Jan after 37.9 °C 17 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
6 Jan after 38.1 °C 16 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 44
7 Jan after 38.5 °C 15 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 43
8 Jan after 39.2 °C 11 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 46
9 Jan after 39.3 °C 10 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 49
10 Jan after 38.7 °C 13 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 18 Dec 2016
After · 7 Jan 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 · 94Every 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 Ethiopia ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Gog fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 25 December 2016 and 31 December 2016: 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 3,148 hectares (31.5 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Gog (2,656 ha, 0.8 %); Abobo (514 ha, 0.2 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 39.3 °C, humidity dropped to 17 % and gusts hit 33 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 45, class Very high.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Ethiopia (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 ADM3 (Open Data Commons Open Database License 1.0). 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.