Signs of Drought in European Groundwater

For the third year in a row, Europe is facing potential water woes. Groundwater is a resource for irrigation and drinking water, “From the global food security and agricultural commodities perspective, Europe is important because it is one of the largest wheat-producing regions in the world, and also a major maize-producing region. Both wheat and maize are major food security crops,” said Brian Barker, a leader of the GEOGLAM group and scientist at the University of Maryland. “The persistent rainfall deficits, combined with the above-average temperatures since winter, have negatively affected large areas across Europe, reducing forecasted crop yields compared to the five-year average in a number of countries.”Read more of the impacts of this drought here: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/146888/signs-of-drought-in-european-groundwaterNASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using GRACE data from the National Drought Mitigation Center. Story by Michael Carlowicz, with assistance from Matt Rodell (NASA GSFC), Nasa.gov | 2nd July 2020