Map of the Week – River Gauging Stations
On 18 July 2022, the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) published the “Drought in Europe - July 2022” report, an assessment of Europe’s drought situation based on the European Drought Observatory. [1] The report points out that [2]
- The severe drought affecting several regions of Europe since the beginning of the year continues expanding and worsening. Dry conditions are related to a wide and persistent lack of precipitation combined with early heat waves in May and June.
- The severe precipitation deficit has been impacting river discharges widely across Europe.
- Reduced stored water volume is having severe impacts on the energy sector both for hydropower generation and for cooling systems of other power plants.
- Competition for water resources is high and started earlier than usual. Water and heat stresses have reduced crop yield and crop yield potential. Water supply may be compromised in the coming months.
Implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), drought mitigation and climate adaptation are essential to address the current situation. At the same time, it is vital to strengthen and accelerate climate mitigation[3] to limit increasing impacts of climate change[3] in the future.
Regarding rivers, did you know there is a map layer on river gauging stations in the European Atlas of the Seas? Instruments at these stations measure a range of parameters including water height, discharge, water chemistry, and water temperature. Data are used by hydrologists or environmental scientists to monitor and test terrestrial bodies of water to monitor the water quality and biota (living organisms). Some gauging stations are highly automated. Explore the Map of the Week by clicking on the stations to learn more!
What can you do?
- Stay informed of weather forecasts in your region and recommendations to mitigate the impacts of heatwaves and drought.
- Use water sustainably.
- Are you a teacher interested in working on climate change with your students? Have you heard about the Education for Climate challenge ‘Be a scientist! Mapping climate change at seas & waterways’? The Education for Climate Community is co-creating a new educational map around climate change in the European Atlas of the Seas that will be used in the future in classrooms and educational activities. Join them! Submit your vote by 4 September 2022 to help select the topic of the map and enrol in the challenge event which will take place on 7 September 2022!
The Map of the Week will be on a summer break in the coming three weeks. We will be back with new ocean and seas updates on 19 August 2022. Follow us on Twitter for estival highlights!
The data in this map are provided by EMODnet.
[1] https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/jrc-news/droughts-europe-july-2022-almost-half-eu-uk-territory-risk-2022-07-18_en
[2] https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC130253
[3] Watch the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report video on the webpage.