# Kirkuk refinery: thermal anomalies and satellite views

Kirkuk refinery, refinery in Iraq, watched from orbit: no thermal anomaly recorded since 20 Aug 2026, when this site's watch began.

- Kind: Refinery
- Country: Iraq (IQ)
- Coordinates: 35.5311, 44.3338
- Canonical page: <https://firmtape.com/geo/site/iq-kirkuk-refinery>
- JSON: <https://firmtape.com/geo/api/sites/iq-kirkuk-refinery>
- Times are New York (ET).

## Latest view

No clear Sentinel-2 view of this site yet.

## Thermal anomalies

No thermal anomaly recorded since 20 Aug 2026, when this site's watch began. A quiet site is no reading, never a statement that nothing happened.
## FIRMS detections a day, last 90 days

| Day | Detections | FRP, MW |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-08-21 | 26 | 198.6 |
| 2026-08-22 | 34 | 187 |
| 2026-08-23 | 20 | 116.5 |
| 2026-08-24 | 16 | 71.6 |
| 2026-08-25 | 8 | 37.9 |
| 2026-08-26 | 26 | 168.5 |
| 2026-08-27 | 24 | 150.8 |
| 2026-08-28 | 29 | 134.7 |
| 2026-08-29 | 13 | 73.2 |
| 2026-08-30 | 12 | 63.3 |
| 2026-08-31 | 24 | 89.6 |
| 2026-09-01 | 26 | 94.6 |
| 2026-09-02 | 30 | 152.5 |
| 2026-09-03 | 27 | 138.3 |
| 2026-09-04 | 17 | 116.8 |
| 2026-09-05 | 27 | 180 |
| 2026-09-06 | 27 | 174.4 |
| 2026-09-07 | 17 | 124.5 |
| 2026-09-08 | 31 | 139.1 |
| 2026-09-09 | 16 | 76.3 |
| 2026-09-10 | 18 | 108.8 |
| 2026-09-11 | 26 | 110.9 |
| 2026-09-12 | 28 | 156.3 |
| 2026-09-13 | 24 | 98.6 |
| 2026-09-14 | 21 | 110.6 |
| 2026-09-15 | 18 | 92.6 |
| 2026-09-16 | 25 | 114.5 |
| 2026-09-17 | 26 | 120.1 |
| 2026-09-18 | 27 | 102.2 |
| 2026-09-19 | 33 | 134 |
| 2026-09-20 | 20 | 81.2 |
| 2026-09-21 | 31 | 145.4 |
| 2026-09-22 | 36 | 160.5 |
| 2026-09-23 | 36 | 266.5 |
| 2026-09-24 | 30 | 242.3 |
| 2026-09-25 | 20 | 179.5 |
| 2026-09-26 | 17 | 167.2 |
| 2026-09-27 | 25 | 209.3 |
| 2026-09-28 | 34 | 213.9 |
| 2026-09-29 | 22 | 124.5 |
| 2026-09-30 | 36 | 161.4 |
| 2026-10-01 | 2 | 2.2 |
| 2026-10-02 | 1 | 7.5 |
| 2026-10-03 | 2 | 7.6 |
| 2026-10-04 | 37 | 279.4 |
| 2026-10-05 | 16 | 73.8 |
| 2026-10-06 | 1 | 5.1 |
| 2026-10-07 | 0 | 0 |
| 2026-10-08 | 11 | 61.6 |
| 2026-10-09 | 10 | 53 |
| 2026-10-10 | 25 | 80.5 |
| 2026-10-11 | 13 | 34.9 |
| 2026-10-12 | 14 | 47 |
| 2026-10-13 | 2 | 15 |
| 2026-10-14 | 18 | 96.1 |
| 2026-10-15 | 0 | 0 |
| 2026-10-16 | 5 | 9.8 |
| 2026-10-17 | 7 | 50.8 |
| 2026-10-18 | 25 | 116.6 |
| 2026-10-19 | 21 | 108.8 |

## What this reading can and cannot say

A thermal anomaly means NASA's FIRMS satellites saw more heat at the site than it usually shows, at the moment they passed. It does not say why: flaring, a process upset, maintenance and a fire read alike.

A fire put out between two passes is never seen, cloud and smoke hide heat, and a site that flares gas every day reads hot on its own, which is why each site is measured against its own normal. A quiet site is no reading at all, never a statement that nothing happened.

A site view is a dated Sentinel-2 image: context for a reading, never proof of damage. The SWIR view shows heat and burn scars that true colour cannot.

## Credits

- We acknowledge the use of data and imagery from LANCE FIRMS operated by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) with funding provided by NASA Headquarters. <https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/>
- Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026 (Sentinel-2). <https://dataspace.copernicus.eu/>
- Site positions © OpenStreetMap contributors. <https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright>
- ESA WorldCover: © ESA WorldCover project 2021 / Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2021) processed by ESA WorldCover consortium. <https://esa-worldcover.org/>