PARIS, France: Satellite images from Europe showed shrinking glaciers, wildfire scars, browned fields and low river levels after successive hot spells since May.
According to BBC Verify, the Danube fell to its lowest levels in 30 years in several countries, exposing mammoth bones in Bulgaria and a sunken Second World War ship in Serbia, the broadcaster’s satellite analysis found.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service recorded western Europe’s hottest combined June-July period. The region averaged 21.62°C, or 2.79°C above the 1991-2020 norm and 0.89°C beyond the previous record.
Planet Labs imagery captured on Aug. 12 indicated that the front of Switzerland’s Rhône Glacier had retreated by at least 50 metres since Aug. 11, 2025. The comparison also showed an expanding lake at the glacier’s edge.
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Dr Lander van Tricht, a glaciologist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, attributed the retreat to reduced winter snow and heavier summer melting. He warned that continued losses would leave the Alps facing a “very dramatic” future.
Wildfires burned more than 90,000 hectares across France by late July, according to the European Forest Fire Information System data cited by NASA. A fire near Bordeaux scorched about 42,000 hectares, leaving a burn scar visible from orbit.
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BBC Verify’s analysis of NASA vegetation data found below-normal greenness across about 70% of France, nearly half the United Kingdom and roughly 40% of western Germany compared with the 2021-2025 benchmark.
University of Leeds climate professor Andrew Challinor said the satellite pattern was consistent with widespread water stress and could affect European crops and food production.
