“The severe drought that has affected many regions of Europe since the beginning of the year has been expanding and worsening since the beginning of August. The dry conditions are related to a widespread and persistent lack of precipitation combined with a sequence of heat waves starting in May.” That's what the August report from the European Drought Observatory (EDO🇬🇧), supervised by the European Commission.
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According to the document, Europe is facing the worst drought in at least 500 years – with two-thirds of the continent on alert – which has affected river transport, electricity production, as well as harvests.
The Western Europe-Mediterranean region will likely experience hotter and drier than normal conditions through November, the report adds.
The observatory's drought indicator is derived from measurements of precipitation, soil moisture, and fraction of solar radiation absorbed by plants for photosynthesissystem. (Reuters*)
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Much of Europe faced weeks of high temperatures this summer, which worsened the drought, caused forest fires, triggered health warnings and led to calls for more action to combat climate change.
Curto curation:
- 5 unexpected impacts of the drought in Europe (World Economic Forum*)
- 'The new normal': How Europe is being hit by a climate-driven drought crisis (The Guardian*)
- Drought in Europe exposes ancient stones and ships from World War II (CNN Brazil)
- Drone images reveal impact of the climate crisis on Europe's rivers (Guardian news):
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(🇬🇧): content in English
(*): content in other languages is translated by Google Tradutor
