{"id":113523,"date":"2026-03-23T17:01:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T16:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sonnenseite.com\/?p=113523"},"modified":"2026-03-23T17:01:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T16:01:45","slug":"significant-increase-in-droughts-worldwide-particularly-in-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sonnenseite.com\/en\/environment\/significant-increase-in-droughts-worldwide-particularly-in-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"Significant increase in droughts worldwide, particularly in Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The GRACE and GRACE-FO satellite missions show a dramatic global increase in the drought-affected areas, particularly in Europe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Germany, this means a continuing downward trend in water storage. By the end of 2025, the water deficit was around 25 billion tonnes compared to the average since 2002. This is the finding of a recent analysis carried out by researchers at the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, 2002\u20132017) and GRACE-FO (GRACE-Follow-On<\/a>, since 2018) satellite missions enable the monitoring of global water storage at monthly resolution. Now that 24 years of data are available, long-term changes can be analysed. To mark World Water Day 2025, researchers at the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, led by Dr Eva Boergens and Dr Julian Haas, have analysed the latest data and placed it within the context of long-term trends \u2013 globally, in various regions worldwide, in Europe and in Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Extreme global trends: Fewer and fewer areas with \u2018normal\u2019 water storage<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Globally, extremes in water storage are becoming more common, as can be seen in Fig. 1. While 75% of the land area still had normal* water storage levels in 2009, this number has fallen to just under a third by 2025. This decline is primarily due to an increase in dry areas, which have grown from 12% in 2009 to nearly 43% in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast, the area of land classified as wet has remained roughly the same over the last 24 years, returning to a state similar to that seen over 20 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*The following applies to the characterisation of water storage as shown in Fig. 1:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Fig. 1: Global classification of water reservoirs into \u2018dry\u2019 (Q25), \u2018normal\u2019 (Q25\u2013Q75) and \u2018wet\u2019 (Q75). Details about these categories: in the text. (Figure: Eva Boergens, GFZ) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The change in water storage is not presented in terms of absolute deviations in millimetres, but rather as a categorisation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n