Muynak fire, June 2023 Muynak
The fire started on 26 June 2023 in Muynak, Uzbekistan, and satellites saw it burning for 8 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 2,140 hectares from heat detections, spread across a single municipality.
It is the 15th largest in Republic of Karakalpakstan since 2016 (of 54 with a page). The largest in Uzbekistan in 2023, of 5.
- Burnt area
- 2,140ha
- GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
- Duration
- 8days
- 26 Jun 2023 – 3 Jul 2023
- Municipalities hit
- 1
- districts
- Started on
- 26 Jun
- 2023
- Heat detections
- 155
- in a single hotspot: 186 MW
- Danger at start
- 48
- Very high · FWI index
- Energy released
- 4.1GW
- 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 37 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.
This area had burned before
77% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 667 ha in 2019, 1,373 ha in 2021. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 1,658 ha that had burned before.
What happened to each town
-
Muynak where it started2,109 ha reached on 25 Jun0.0 %
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 Jun | 33.4 °C | 13 % | 24 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 26 Jun | 34.8 °C | 15 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 58 |
| 27 Jun | 32.6 °C | 15 % | 33 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 56 |
| 28 Jun | 33.7 °C | 14 % | 29 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 52 |
| 29 Jun | 36.0 °C | 15 % | 40 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 30 Jun | 35.9 °C | 16 % | 53 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very extreme 72 |
| 1 Jul | 38.9 °C | 14 % | 62 km/h | 0.2 mm | Very extreme 79 |
| 2 Jul | 32.7 °C | 24 % | 46 km/h | 0.7 mm | Very high 48 |
| 3 Jul | 34.2 °C | 20 % | 28 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 42 |
| 4 Jul after | 36.9 °C | 18 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Very high 48 |
| 5 Jul after | 37.7 °C | 17 % | 44 km/h | 0.2 mm | Extreme 59 |
| 6 Jul after | 38.1 °C | 15 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 55 |
| 7 Jul after | 38.6 °C | 15 % | 45 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 61 |
| 8 Jul after | 39.9 °C | 12 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 63 |
| 9 Jul after | 41.1 °C | 13 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 62 |
| 10 Jul after | 41.2 °C | 12 % | 42 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 66 |
| 11 Jul after | 43.5 °C | 9 % | 35 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 65 |
| 12 Jul after | 37.1 °C | 23 % | 49 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 64 |
| 13 Jul after | 35.1 °C | 17 % | 38 km/h | 0.0 mm | Extreme 60 |
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.
The smoke
CAMS · CopernicusOn 1 July 2023 the air beside the fire reached 118 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 33: 2.2 times the WHO daily guideline (15).
Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.
Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)
Detections table · 155Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
| Date and time | Satellite | FRP (MW) | Lat | Lon |
|---|
Other fires nearby
Frequently asked questions
- How long did the Muynak fire last?
- GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 26 June 2023 and 3 July 2023: 8 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 2,140 hectares (21.4 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
- Which municipalities burned?
- The fire only entered Muynak (2,109 ha, 0.0 %).
- What was the weather like?
- During the fire the temperature reached 38.9 °C, humidity dropped to 13 % and gusts hit 62 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 79, class Very extreme.
- Where does this data come from?
- From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Uzbekistan (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: 101 · 112
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.