AURSEEAursee
Wildfires in Eastern Highlands
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 4,980 km² of Eastern Highlands at least once. In an average year it detected fire in 1,570 km², ranking 6th of 20 regions of Papua New Guinea.
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 2015, with 3,010 km² detected; the quietest was 2016, with 1,020 km². The 2021–2025 average is 8.4% 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.
July, August and September together hold 56% of the fire-days in the record. The single busiest day was 12 August 2015, with detections in 175 cells.
Ground that burns again
Of the 4,980 km² with at least one detection, 63% had detections in three or more different years.
| Years with a detection | km² | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 1,060 | 21% |
| 2 years | 761 | 15% |
| 3 to 5 years | 1,510 | 30% |
| 6 to 10 years | 1,420 | 29% |
| 11 years or more | 229 | 4.6% |
The half-degree square with the most fire-days is centred at -6.25, 145.75 and holds 46% of the region's fire-days.
The figures
Show the table
| Year | Detected km² | Fire-days |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 1,390 | 1,499 |
| 2013 | 1,180 | 1,223 |
| 2014 | 1,070 | 1,103 |
| 2015 | 3,010 | 4,191 |
| 2016 | 1,020 | 1,057 |
| 2017 | 1,780 | 2,030 |
| 2018 | 1,240 | 1,308 |
| 2019 | 1,690 | 1,900 |
| 2020 | 1,310 | 1,438 |
| 2021 | 1,950 | 2,309 |
| 2022 | 2,240 | 2,638 |
| 2023 | 1,070 | 1,064 |
| 2024 | 1,500 | 1,675 |
| 2025 | 1,570 | 1,751 |
Other regions of Papua New Guinea
- Western4,740 km² in an average year
- East Sepik2,660 km² in an average year
- Morobe2,640 km² in an average year
- Central2,380 km² in an average year
- Madang2,180 km² in an average year
- Oro1,300 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
- Morobe55 km
- Chimbu55 km
- Madang55 km
- Western Highlands174 km
- Southern Highlands221 km
- Enga228 km