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.
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 GRACE-FO (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment-Follow-On) satellites launched in May 2018 are able to quantify the water mass deficit in Central Europe. Relative to long-term climate development, the water mass deficits during the two consecutive summer droughts of 2018 and 2019 amounted to 112 Gt in 2018 and even 145 Gt in 2019, according to a research team from the German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ and the University of Potsdam led by Eva Börgens.
The deficits in 2018 and 2019 are thus 73 percent and 94 percent of the average fluctuation in seasonal water storage. In other words, compared with the average value, it would take about twice the increase in water over the winter to compensate for this deficit. 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.
Read more at GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences
Image Credit: GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences
