A devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake has hit Türkiye and Syria. The damage is considerable, with at least 33,000 casualties. The earthquake was so strong that it caused massive ground deformations. This interferogram was created using the radar data acquired by the Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite in ascending orbit on 28 January and 9...

South America is going through a heatwave, with temperatures rising 10ºC above the seasonal average in many places. Argentina is most affected, with 17 provinces experiencing record-breaking temperatures. The heatwave has also resulted in wildfires in Chile and the loss of snow cover on several Andean glaciers in Argentina. This image, acquired...

Temperatures above reference average values continue to be recorded in Europe. According to the latest climate bulletin published by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), January 2023 has been the third warmest January, with temperature anomalies reaching +5ºC peaks in Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia. The...

  On 6 February 2023, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck near the city of Gaziantep in South-eastern Türkiye. This was followed by several strong aftershocks, including one of magnitude 7.5. The earthquakes caused more than 17,000 casualties and over 37,000 people were injured. The Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS) Rapid Mapping...

Despite the cold weather, the ice coverage of the Great Lakes remains significantly below its average winter extent. Ice is covering only 13.91% of the surface of Lake Michigan, about 8% below the winter’s average, This is one of the lowest ice extents on record, second only to the 12.4% of ice coverage measured in 2002. Even though the cold...

Even though the beginning of this winter season had been characterised by a deficit in snow cover in the Alps, the area has seen heavy snowfall over the last weekend. The combination of heavy snowfall and strong winds caused several avalanches in Italy, Switzerland and Austria, where local authorities reported 11 casualties, including visitors...

Severe wildfires are currently raging in central Chile, causing widespread devastation. Over 270,000 hectares have burned, and 24 casualties have been reported. The hot and dry weather conditions, coupled with strong winds, have caused the fires to spread rapidly, making this the second-worst year on record for hectares burnt. Despite the...

A devastating earthquake hit Türkiye at 4 a.m. local time on Monday 6 February 2023, with its epicentre 23 km east of Nurdagi, in the Gaziantep province. With a magnitude of 7.8, it is considered one of the strongest earthquakes to affect Türkiye in over a century. Hundreds of buildings collapsed in Türkiye and Syria due to the powerful quake...

The heavy snowfall that hit Romania in the last week of January 2023 caused widespread damage and disruptions across the country. Over 30,000 people were left without electricity, and road transportation was severely impacted by snow and ice. The affected areas saw fallen trees and electricity poles, while some low-lying regions were also...

Every year, as the winter months set in, sea ice forms in the Baltic Sea. However, according to the Finnish Meteorological Institute, its extent this year is among the lowest on record. In fact, the sea ice extent on 31 January 2023 was 27,000 km², less than half the extent registered on the same date in 2022 (57,000 km²). Rising global...

The Horn of Africa region is experiencing the longest and most severe drought in the past 70 years. The combination of global warming and La Niña conditions are causing a food crisis and water shortage in Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya. Over 1.3 million people have been forced to leave their homes and seek food in other locations. The situation...

Winter rains are finally contributing to the improvement of the drought conditions in Spain. According to data from the SAIH (Automatic Monitoring of Hydrographic Information), the water level in the Yesa reservoir, which was at an alarmingly low of 16% of its capacity last summer, has now risen significantly to about 45% , with an increase of...

The winter season in Afghanistan is proving to be one of the coldest in decades, with temperatures reaching -33°C. The harsh weather conditions, characterised by heavy snowfall and frost, are causing widespread devastation throughout the country. The severe weather has caused the death of at least 80,000 heads of livestock and buildings and...

In the past week, Japan suffered one of the most severe cold spells of the season due to an unusually cold weather formation, which caused heavy snowfall across large parts of the country. The intense storm heavily impacted transport networks, as vehicles and local trains were blocked by the snow with thousands of people inside and flights had...

On 24 January heavy snowfall fell in northwest Algeria, on the peaks of the Bèchar Province, on the edge of the Sahara Desert. This image, acquired on 25 January 2023 by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites, shows the snow-capped peaks and the town of Benzireg. Snowfalls are very rare in the Sahara because of the high temperatures, and...

After an unusually warm start of the winter season characterised by the lack of significant snowfall, in the past few days a massive snowstorm covered the peaks of central and southern Italy with snow. Several municipalities in inland Italian have been heavily affected, and local schools have been closed for a few days in order to prevent...

On 23 January, a massive iceberg, of 1,550 km2 (close to the size of the island of Gran Canaria or of Greater London), has calved from the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica. This image was acquired on 20 and 24 January by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites and shows the newly formed iceberg, named Chasm1, floating in the Weddell Sea....

A recent study published by the Nature journal has revealed that temperatures in Greenland have been higher in recent decades than in any other period in the past 1,000 years. The study analysed data from ice cores and reconstructed temperatures in Greenland going back to 1,000 AD. Results indicate that current temperatures are on average 1.5°C...

Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, has been designated as the European Green Capital 2023 in recognition of its efforts to promote sustainable transport, green economy and environmental conservation. Among the sustainable policies adapted by the city are the remodeling of streets to improve urban greening, the investment in free, electric and...

Until December 2022, California's reservoirs remained below capacity. However, although there were storms in December, the above-average temperatures resulted in heavy rainfall rather than the usual snowfall, which contributed to improve the hydrological situation. In January 2023, steady snowfall in the Sierra Nevada region led to...