AURSEEAursee
Wildfires in Southern
Detected · VIIRS 375 m · Suomi NPP, NOAA-20, NOAA-21 · last 24 hours · updated 2026-10-12 10:27 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 77,020 km² of Southern at least once. In an average year it detected fire in 31,690 km², ranking 7th of 10 regions of Zambia.
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 2012, with 41,250 km² detected; the quietest was 2024, with 18,060 km². The 2021–2025 average is 30% 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.
July, August and September together hold 63% of the fire-days in the record. The single busiest day was 11 September 2015, with detections in 971 cells.
Ground that burns again
Of the 77,020 km² with at least one detection, 84% had detections in three or more different years.
| Years with a detection | km² | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 5,990 | 7.8% |
| 2 years | 6,490 | 8.4% |
| 3 to 5 years | 23,850 | 31% |
| 6 to 10 years | 36,450 | 47% |
| 11 years or more | 4,250 | 5.5% |
The half-degree square with the most fire-days is centred at -15.75, 27.25 and holds 5.8% of the region's fire-days.
The figures
Show the table
| Year | Detected km² | Fire-days |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 41,250 | 46,866 |
| 2013 | 41,150 | 47,243 |
| 2014 | 37,960 | 41,921 |
| 2015 | 37,900 | 43,366 |
| 2016 | 32,020 | 36,153 |
| 2017 | 33,310 | 35,601 |
| 2018 | 32,680 | 36,426 |
| 2019 | 29,390 | 33,874 |
| 2020 | 24,550 | 26,183 |
| 2021 | 31,540 | 34,458 |
| 2022 | 28,130 | 30,635 |
| 2023 | 35,320 | 40,473 |
| 2024 | 18,060 | 24,898 |
| 2025 | 20,440 | 25,867 |
Other regions of Zambia
- Northwestern82,900 km² in an average year
- Western77,200 km² in an average year
- Central59,410 km² in an average year
- Muchinga59,070 km² in an average year
- Northern43,770 km² in an average year
- Luapula32,860 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
- Lusaka221 km
- Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe297 km
- Copperbelt350 km
- Mashonaland West, Zimbabwe360 km
- Northwestern392 km
- Western411 km