Drought dried up Alpine Chaillexon Lake
Chaillexon is a lake nestled in the border area between France and Switzerland.
Once a beautiful and productive body of water with abundant vegetation and clean water, it is affected by the ongoing severe drought. Comparing these two images, acquired by Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites on October 2022 (left) and 2023 (right), it is visible that the water level dramatically decreased in October 2023.
The drought that is plaguing Lake Chaillexon is not an isolated incident. According to the Combined Drought Indicator (CDI) data from the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS) European Drought Observatory (EDO), 24.3% of EU-27 territory was in Drought Warning conditions for the 2nd 10-day period of September.
Copernicus Sentinel-2 data are used operationally to monitor water bodies in Europe and globally.
