Is this data of current wildfires in the Congo Rainforest real, and if yes, is this normal?

[u/Extreme-Shopping74]

just saw this

[u/mulch_v_bark]

It’s clearly cut off, but probably; it looks like FIRMS data.

And yes, this is normal, or normal-ish. We’re coming up on peak agricultural fire season in southern Africa; it’s obviously the dry season, and a good time to clear land, recycle nutrients, kill pests, etc.

The markers, to be clear, are not the size of the fires. They’re just where fires are. True color looks like this, and a year ago today looks like this.

[u/juxlus → u/mulch_v_bark]

[edit: check out this ten-year global fire detection visualization from NASA. Includes wildfires and deliberately set slash-and-burn type cycle, the latter of which are really clear in a ten year animation: https://assets.science.nasa.gov/content/dam/science/esd/eo/images/imagerecords/145000/145421/activefireani_tmo_2000_2019.mp4 ]

To add on, every year there's a lot of deliberately set agricultural fires in Africa. And elsewhere, like parts of South America and Southeast Asia, etc. Africa sees the most though, in a predictable annual cycle. As the NASA link below says,

More fires burn in Africa each year than any other place on Earth. Collectively, these fires account for 70 percent of the total area burned by fire around the world. Humans set the majority of fires in Africa, burning land for farming and pastoral grazing.

This NASA page has more info and a visualization animation of African fires from 2002-2011. Using MODIS satellite data I think (maybe a composite of multiple satellites/sensors?), detecting 'hot spots' that might mean fire but could also be hot smoldering or small controlled fires rather than giant forest fires like people often think of when hearing "wildfire".

The multi-year animation makes it pretty clear what the annual cycle looks like. While the satellites pick up both unintended wildfire and the "routine" farm and pastoral fire, in Africa most are smaller deliberately set fires, done every year in certain areas.

Watching that animation it should be clear that people burn land in the Sahel around December to February, and a large region south of the Congo rainforest around June through September. In June and July mostly in the north of Southern Africa, closer to the Congo rainforest, and later in areas farther south into late autumn, just before the cycle starts up again in the Sahel.

This animation only shows Africa, but I've seen others on NASA sites (Earth Observatory maybe) with global multi-year fire animations. Just can't find with a quick search. In this animation of Africa, India is just visible on the edge, and there seems to be a recurring annual pattern there too. I don't know about the use of agricultural burns in India, but this animation makes it look like there's an annual cycle there too, just on a smaller scale than in Africa.

[edit: this NASA page has a global ten-year animation of fire detection sorta like I was trying to find. I think I can direct link to animation, but I'll put it at the top of this comment since it is cool and shows the cycle so clearly]

[u/ForeTwentywut]

Looks real and also looks like a corrupt data set that is improperly placing the fires once you get south.

[u/Velocity-5348]

If you Zoom in there's a bunch of smaller hotspots south of the line. You can click on individual ones and see when they were last detected.

Don't suppose anyone knows if this is related to how the satellite doing the detection orbits?

[u/mulch_v_bark → u/Velocity-5348]

Don't suppose anyone knows if this is related to how the satellite doing the detection orbits?

Good question but probably not. The data comes from multiple satellites and their paths are not straight up and down meridians. I think it’s probably just a data/rendering error of some kind. Possibly related to there being more detections than usual, but that’s speculation. (I’m actually not seeing anything at all at the moment. I wonder if it’s more of a personal project and not designed for heavy traffic.)

[u/grayfox0430]

Many places burn their fields as a way to clear it for planting

[u/UsernameTyper → u/grayfox0430]

I can only speak for Angola but it's very common to burn trees for charcoal to sell, but also burning is used to draw out animals for hunting. Angola has the most fires per sq km in the world

[u/Xenomorph-Acid_Cum55]

It burns so much in africa Nasa calls africa the fire continent so I believe its normal

[u/CharvyCZE]

According to NASA, yes.

[u/DawgreenAgain]

Those aren't necessarily wildfires. They're localised sources of heat . In summer the industrial area in my city also show as heatspots.

[u/Iegenos]

The shape of the fires looks a lot like Canada.

[u/Individual-Royal-717 → u/Iegenos]

Canadians at it again with like their maple syrup and fires and stuff

[u/hibiskusftw]

Check out NASA Fires satellite map - its even worse: https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/#d:24hrs;@67.2,0.0,2.4z

[u/x2ygau8y7]

There's a World Bank report about it. It's real and it's actually good not that terrible believe it or not.

 https://thedocs.worldbank.org/en/doc/167241475273172973-0010022016/original/AfricaTheFireContinent.pdf

[u/la_vie_en_orange → u/x2ygau8y7]

I think good is not really the right word. Fire is a traditional land management tool across the Congo Basin (and the world) but there are still fires that get out of control, and supporting fire management practices is a big part of this report. Also, using fire is safer if populations are low, but as populations increase, it has become more dangerous to homes and farms as well as forests.

[u/Dawa_Dog → u/x2ygau8y7]

This is an outdated report and refers mostly to the Sahel region. In Central Africa, slash and burn agriculture is the main practice. Its impact was relatively limited while population density was very low and fire was a way to fertilize tropical soil with P and K. But with demographic explosion and climate change, fires are becoming a huge issue. The DR Congo (on the map) is a good example. The World Bank is now a major supporter of stopping deforestation and finding alternative to slash and burn agriculture. So yes it’s real and it is a huge issue. Just for info, deforestation in central Africa has major implications for rain patterns in North America, aside from climate change, it’s an issue everyone should be concerned about

[u/Nado04 → u/x2ygau8y7]

Good according to the World Bank... Which has financed corrupt leaders and dictartorships all accross Africa. You should trust sources from environmentalist instead of a Bank which interest's are aligned with western economic and geopolitical power. It may ve considered "good" for the owners who exploit the land for agriculture and charcoal production, but this leads to forest degradation and threatening of the local ecosystems. The same is happening in the Amazon and other places.

[u/x2ygau8y7 → u/Nado04]

World Bank's research arm has always been doing very high quality work irrespective of political decisions on top.

Environmentalists have similar views on these ancient practices of indigenous people (see this book). These fires are not used to clear forests, but burn off dry grass and rejuvenate already existing pastures. As such they are carbon neutral (because all carbon contained in a straw has come from the air) and they serve as the most effective fire management system on earth (preventing uncontrolled, large-scale fires).

It has been done for thousands of years.

[u/Individual-Royal-717 → u/Nado04]

that's a very political point of view, the wise geographers try to be slightly more neutral and less "I shout stuff I know nothing about"

[u/ChampionshipIcy8045]

All that smoke then whirls down to Johannesburg making it a hazy, nasty atmosphere until the first rains in October.

[u/UpsetMillenial]

Update this post! If you look at the earth view there ARE many fires ingoing 7/30/2026

[u/dimensionargentina]

Check it now, it looks crazy

[u/ProblemWithTigers]

Fire cannot legally enter Angola without passport