Ghana Fire Calendar
Method

NASA MODIS + VIIRS · 2000 to today

When and where
does Ghana burn?

26 years of satellite fire detections from two sensors, merged into one consistent record. How it works

Ghana

    Burning calendar

    Click a month to map its fires

    Seasons

    How each fire season compares with a normal one.

    Season vs normal

    Season totals

    Click a bar to open that season.

    Day by day

    Outlook

    Expected burning in the months ahead.

      Tested on past years

      Regions

      How Ghana's 16 regions differ.

      Click a region to open it

      When each region burns

      Change in burning

      Two sensors, one record

      Raw MODIS and VIIRS disagree several-fold. The harmonized record joins them without a jump when VIIRS starts in 2012.

      About the data

      Active cell-days
      The unit of burning: a 0.025° grid cell (about 2.8 km) with at least one fire on a day.
      Harmonized
      MODIS times a monthly factor before VIIRS starts (2012), VIIRS after. One record, in VIIRS-equivalent units.
      Normal
      The average for each month over the reference years. The usual range is the middle 80% of them.
      Full method

      How the outlook works

      Forecast
      Each month is half the average of the same month over the last 5 years, half the 15-season trend line.
      Likely range
      Where 8 in 10 past forecasts made at this time of year landed.
      Limits
      Past fires only. Rainfall, policy and land-use changes are not included.
      More on the method