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Ulang fire, December 2017 Ulang, Akobo

Out · last detection 17 Jan 2018, 11:44 UTC

The fire started on 31 December 2017 in Ulang, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 17 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 35,904 hectares from heat detections, spread across 2 municipalities.

It is the 12th largest in Upper Nile since 2016 (of 284 with a page). Number 4 in South Sudan in 2017, of 203.

Burnt area
35,904ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
17days
31 Dec 2017 – 16 Jan 2018
Municipalities hit
2
counties
Started on
31 Dec
2017
Heat detections
1,468
in a single hotspot: 178 MW
Danger at start
68
Extreme · FWI index
Energy released
16.6GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

17 Jan 2018
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 31 Dec16 Jan

How it evolved, day by day

311234567891011121314151617

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
52km/h · peak gust
9%lowest humidity

It had gone 56 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

38% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 11,703 ha in 2016, 3,012 ha in 2017. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 13,810 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Ulang where it started
    28,333 ha reached on 31 Dec
    5.8 %
  2. Akobo
    7,790 ha reached on 31 Dec
    0.9 %

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)
31 Dec 38.7 °C 11 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 68
1 Jan 36.6 °C 17 % 52 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 68
2 Jan 35.5 °C 19 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
3 Jan 36.4 °C 19 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 59
4 Jan 36.1 °C 17 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
5 Jan 36.2 °C 14 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
6 Jan 36.3 °C 14 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
7 Jan 36.9 °C 9 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61
8 Jan 37.3 °C 11 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 67
9 Jan 37.3 °C 12 % 44 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
10 Jan 38.4 °C 11 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 62
11 Jan 39.0 °C 12 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 64
12 Jan 39.2 °C 12 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
13 Jan 39.9 °C 11 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
14 Jan 39.7 °C 9 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
15 Jan 38.5 °C 11 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 73
16 Jan 38.0 °C 13 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 69
17 Jan after 38.3 °C 12 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 69
18 Jan after 38.3 °C 12 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 67
19 Jan after 38.4 °C 12 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 70
20 Jan after 38.5 °C 12 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 67
21 Jan after 39.0 °C 12 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 65
22 Jan after 38.9 °C 13 % 45 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 71
23 Jan after 39.5 °C 12 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 72
24 Jan after 38.5 °C 12 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 68
25 Jan after 38.5 °C 16 % 42 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66
26 Jan after 38.6 °C 13 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 70
27 Jan after 37.5 °C 13 % 50 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 73
28 Jan after 38.3 °C 15 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 72
29 Jan after 38.1 °C 13 % 48 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 71
30 Jan after 37.4 °C 12 % 49 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 73
31 Jan after 37.3 °C 13 % 47 km/h 0.0 mm Very extreme 71
1 Feb after 38.1 °C 12 % 41 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 66

Before and after, from space

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

Before · 24 Dec 2017
After · 23 Jan 2018

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 · 1,468Every 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 Ulang fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 31 December 2017 and 16 January 2018: 17 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 35,904 hectares (359.0 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 2 municipalities: Ulang (28,333 ha, 5.8 %); Akobo (7,790 ha, 0.9 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 39.9 °C, humidity dropped to 9 % and gusts hit 52 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 73, class Very 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.