Satellite data show severity of drought summers in 2018 and 2019

(GFZ GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam, Helmholtz Centre) Measurements by the GRACE-FO satellite mission show a decline in water storage in Central Europe by up to 94 percent compared with seasonal fluctuations. The changes are so serious that a recovery within one year is not to be expected. The water shortage in the years 2018 and 2019 is thus the largest in the entire GRACE and GRACE-FO measurement campaign of almost 20 years. The results were published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.