The images show a stark transformation for large parts of Europe, which was hit by what could be its worst drought in 500 years.
A new sequence of images taken from an EU satellite reveals the impact the recent drought had on Europe.
The images taken from the start of July to the end of August show how much of the European continent was impact by the recent drought, turning massive swathes of land into a desert brown colour.
The photos were taken by the Sentinal 2 satellite, which is part of the EU’s Copernicus Earth Observation Programme. This programme looks at the Earth and its environment for the benefit of Europe’s citizens.
The Copernicus Twitter page shared a video that shows a timelapse of the images, showing the dramatic change to some countries during the hot period.
In 2022, #drought has affected the whole of Europe
Observe how our continent has changed with this mosaic of images acquired by #Copernicus #Sentinel2 ???️ between 1 July and 31 August
?2021?
?2022?#Drought2022 pic.twitter.com/lXITzYwDFt— Copernicus EU (@CopernicusEU) September 5, 2022
Some of the worst affected regions appear to be the south of the UK, northern France, Germany, Poland and various countries in Eastern Europe.
Earlier this month, another Twitter page linked to the Copernicus programme said the drought could possibly be the worst Europe has seen in 500 years.
A report by the Global Drought Observatory suggests that during a period of the drought, 47pc of Europe was considered to be in warning conditions, while 17pc was in alert conditions.
This report added that drought affected river discharges widely across Europe, while reduced water storage had severe impacts on the energy sector “for both hydropower generation and cooling systems of other power plants”.
In July, Adam Bradshaw of ServerChoice said the cooling systems of many data centres were being pushed to “maximum capacity” as a result of heatwave conditions.
Ireland was also impacted by the drought, though it was to a smaller degree than other parts of Europe. During the heatwave, the Irish Solar Energy Association CEO Conall Bolger said Ireland has “huge potential” to generate solar energy for the national grid.
“The sunlight falling on Ireland is a natural resource,” Bolger said. “Every day we are not making use of it, is a lost opportunity.”
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