AURSEEAursee
Wildfires in Southland
Detected · VIIRS 375 m · Suomi NPP, NOAA-20, NOAA-21 · last 24 hours · updated 2026-10-12 12:28 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 1,880 km² of Southland at least once. In an average year it detected fire in 169 km², ranking 3rd of 17 regions of New Zealand.
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 223 km² detected; the quietest was 2024, with 94 km². The 2021–2025 average is 12% higher than 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.
February, March and April together hold 46% of the fire-days in the record. The single busiest day was 22 March 2021, with detections in 16 cells.
Ground that burns again
Of the 1,880 km² with at least one detection, 5.1% had detections in three or more different years.
| Years with a detection | km² | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 1,520 | 81% |
| 2 years | 255 | 14% |
| 3 to 5 years | 90 | 4.8% |
| 6 to 10 years | 5.2 | 0.3% |
| 11 years or more | 0.0 | 0.0% |
The half-degree square with the most fire-days is centred at -45.75, 168.75 and holds 25% of the region's fire-days.
The figures
Show the table
| Year | Detected km² | Fire-days |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 126 | 162 |
| 2013 | 132 | 179 |
| 2014 | 163 | 225 |
| 2015 | 182 | 248 |
| 2016 | 158 | 216 |
| 2017 | 223 | 309 |
| 2018 | 145 | 195 |
| 2019 | 187 | 244 |
| 2020 | 197 | 252 |
| 2021 | 199 | 257 |
| 2022 | 185 | 237 |
| 2023 | 178 | 232 |
| 2024 | 94 | 118 |
| 2025 | 196 | 256 |
Other regions of New Zealand
- Canterbury627 km² in an average year
- Otago209 km² in an average year
- Manawatū-Whanganui149 km² in an average year
- Waikato140 km² in an average year
- Northland137 km² in an average year
- Taranaki101 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
- Otago95 km
- Canterbury324 km
- Manawatū-Whanganui807 km
- Taranaki851 km
- Hawke's Bay932 km
- Waikato1,039 km