AURSEEAursee
Wildfires in Upper West
Detected · VIIRS 375 m · Suomi NPP, NOAA-20, NOAA-21 · last 24 hours · updated 2026-10-11 06:21 UTC
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Fire history, 2012–2025
Detected · VIIRS S-NPP 375 m · 0.01° cells (~1.1 km) · complete years 2012–2025 · built 2026-09-23
Between 2012 and 2025, VIIRS detected fire in 18,500 km² of Upper West at least once. In an average year it detected fire in 11,680 km², ranking 3rd of 10 regions of Ghana.
Year by year
Detected area per year, km². Area of 0.01° cells with at least one detection in the year.
The busiest year was 2017, with 13,010 km² detected; the quietest was 2025, with 9,350 km². The 2021–2025 average is within 5% of the 2012–2016 average.
Through the year
Share of all fire-days 2012–2025 by month. A fire-day is one cell with a detection on one day.
November, December and January together hold 95% of the fire-days in the record. The single busiest day was 30 November 2019, with detections in 651 cells.
Ground that burns again
Of the 18,500 km² with at least one detection, 99% had detections in three or more different years.
| Years with a detection | km² | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 101 | 0.5% |
| 2 years | 168 | 0.9% |
| 3 to 5 years | 1,550 | 8.4% |
| 6 to 10 years | 11,820 | 64% |
| 11 years or more | 4,860 | 26% |
The half-degree square with the most fire-days is centred at 10.25, -2.25 and holds 17% of the region's fire-days.
The figures
Show the table
| Year | Detected km² | Fire-days |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 10,360 | 11,446 |
| 2013 | 12,360 | 15,602 |
| 2014 | 11,820 | 14,540 |
| 2015 | 10,990 | 12,952 |
| 2016 | 12,600 | 15,812 |
| 2017 | 13,010 | 16,494 |
| 2018 | 11,720 | 13,867 |
| 2019 | 11,560 | 13,673 |
| 2020 | 12,920 | 17,446 |
| 2021 | 12,560 | 15,937 |
| 2022 | 11,620 | 13,812 |
| 2023 | 11,760 | 14,201 |
| 2024 | 10,900 | 12,687 |
| 2025 | 9,350 | 10,481 |
Other regions of Ghana
- Northern44,170 km² in an average year
- Brong-Ahafo19,690 km² in an average year
- Ashanti8,960 km² in an average year
- Volta8,420 km² in an average year
- Eastern5,920 km² in an average year
- Upper East3,760 km² in an average year
- How these figures are madeDetected area, cells, and the single-satellite record.
Detected area counts every 0.01° cell with at least one VIIRS detection, so a small fire counts as a whole cell and a fire missed by cloud or between passes is absent. Borders: Natural Earth 1:10m. 2012 begins on 20 January.
Nearby regions
- Noumbiel, Burkina Faso78 km
- Poni, Burkina Faso109 km
- Sissili, Burkina Faso111 km
- Upper East122 km
- Bougouriba, Burkina Faso122 km
- Ioba, Burkina Faso123 km