Europe's water reserves drying up as climate breaks down, analysis finds

Vast areas of Europe’s water reserves are drying up, an analysis of two decades of satellite data reveals, with freshwater storage shrinking across southern and central Europe, from Spain and Italy to Poland and parts of Britain.

- Rachel Salvidge

Scientists at University College London (UCL), working with Watershed Investigations and the Guardian, analysed 2002-24 data from satellites, which track changes in Earth’s gravitational field.

Water is heavy, so shifts in groundwater, rivers, lakes, soil moisture and glaciers show up in the signal, allowing the in effect satellites to “weigh” how much water is stored.

The findings reveal a stark imbalance: Europe’s north and northwest - particularly Scandinavia, parts of Britain and Portugal - have been getting wetter, while large swathes of the south and southeast, including parts of the UK, Spain, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Romania and Ukraine, have been drying out.

Climate breakdown can be seen in the data, the scientists say. “When we compare the total terrestrial water storage data with climate datasets, the trends broadly correlate,” said Mohammad Shamsudduha, a professor of water crisis and risk reduction at UCL.