AURSEEAursee
Wildfires in Southern Highlands
Detected · VIIRS 375 m · Suomi NPP, NOAA-20, NOAA-21 · last 24 hours · updated 2026-10-11 10:26 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 3,240 km² of Southern Highlands at least once. In an average year it detected fire in 419 km², ranking 12th 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 1,980 km² detected; the quietest was 2013, with 83 km². The 2021–2025 average is 48% lower 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.
August, September and October together hold 50% of the fire-days in the record. The single busiest day was 13 August 2015, with detections in 223 cells.
Ground that burns again
Of the 3,240 km² with at least one detection, 18% had detections in three or more different years.
| Years with a detection | km² | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 1,940 | 60% |
| 2 years | 706 | 22% |
| 3 to 5 years | 483 | 15% |
| 6 to 10 years | 101 | 3.1% |
| 11 years or more | 7.5 | 0.2% |
The half-degree square with the most fire-days is centred at -6.25, 143.75 and holds 33% of the region's fire-days.
The figures
Show the table
| Year | Detected km² | Fire-days |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 439 | 433 |
| 2013 | 83 | 124 |
| 2014 | 258 | 283 |
| 2015 | 1,980 | 2,390 |
| 2016 | 140 | 217 |
| 2017 | 152 | 170 |
| 2018 | 506 | 498 |
| 2019 | 562 | 563 |
| 2020 | 235 | 278 |
| 2021 | 150 | 212 |
| 2022 | 435 | 547 |
| 2023 | 519 | 523 |
| 2024 | 165 | 179 |
| 2025 | 249 | 252 |
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
- Eastern Highlands1,570 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
- Enga55 km
- Western Highlands78 km
- Chimbu165 km
- Eastern Highlands221 km
- East Sepik222 km
- Madang228 km