Drought conditions have worsened across Central and Western Europe since the start of the summer with southern England, northern Italy and parts of Central Europe among the hardest-hit areas, according to the Global Drought Observatory. About half of Europe’s land area is experiencing drought with 9 percent reaching the alert level, including southern Germany, Hungary, Romania, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, according to the Combined Drought Indicator for mid-July. On Wednesday, the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre said the Loire, Po, Rhine and Danube rivers had reached record-low levels after continued hotter and drier conditions.
Al Jazeera’s Open Source Unit analysed satellite imagery showing signs of worsening drought, including retreating water in major rivers, declining soil moisture and the yellowing of green spaces in several cities. A time-series comparison of satellite images of the Loire River near the French city of Saumur shows a clear change in the shape of the river channel during August from 2023 to 2026. In images from previous years, larger portions of the channel appear to be covered by water while later comparisons reveal wider islands and larger sandy and gravelly areas within the river.
In an image captured on August 8 this year, substantially larger exposed areas can be seen within the channel compared with the previous images, coinciding with surrounding agricultural areas turning brown and pale. These visual changes are consistent with the broader picture documented by the Joint Research Centre, which said the Loire had reached record-low levels in August. Near Moissac in southwestern France, a satellite comparison from May 21 to August 1 shows a considerable change in the colour of farm areas and vegetation surrounding the Garonne River.
In the May image, large areas of fields and vegetation appear in shades of green while the August image shows larger areas in brown and pale shades. These conditions have occurred during documented hydrological stress in the Garonne basin. In early July, the Garonne River management authority began an early operation to support river levels, describing it as the earliest such intervention since the system was introduced in 1993 after river flows near Toulouse approached record-low levels for that time of year.
In Germany, comparisons of satellite images taken near Kaub show an expansion of exposed sandy and gravelly areas within the Rhine River channel from May 1 to July 29. In the May image, the channel appears filled with water while the late July image reveals larger exposed areas within the river and along its banks, accompanied by a clear change in the colour of surrounding vegetation and fields. Rhine water levels in Germany have reached record lows, causing disruptions to shipping.
On Wednesday, the news agency reported that falling water levels had reached unprecedented levels and brought shipping traffic to a halt at a bottleneck on the river with some vessels becoming stranded. Earlier, Germany’s inland waterway transport sector warned that the severe decline near Kaub could make commercial and tourist navigation impossible on parts of the river. Recent data also showed that vessels were operating with much lighter loads than usual because of reduced available draft.
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