Animation visualises how many wildfires are burning across Australia

An animation shows the scale of wildfires that have been burning in Australia’s Northern Territory over the last two months.

Dr Robbi Bishop-Taylor of Geoscience Australia posted the timelapse on X/Twitter.

The Earth observation scientist said: “For context, the map covers an area larger than France, Spain and Germany combined.”

It comes as fires also continue to burn through Australia’s Queensland state, with residents ordered to evacuate their homes on Wednesday, 1 November as bushfires burned out of control.

This year’s bushfire season is particularly high-risk after the onset of an El Nino weather event, associated with extreme events such as wildfires.