
BBC Verify examines space data showing shrunken glaciers, scorched landscapes, low river levels, and vegetation stress following record temperatures.
Satellite images show the severe impact of western Europe's record summer heatwaves, revealing shrunken glaciers, dried rivers, and widespread vegetation stress.
AI-generated summary
Western Europe experienced its hottest June-to-July period on record according to Copernicus.
The impact of this summer's extreme temperatures on western Europe can now be seen from space after successive heatwaves since May.
Satellite images examined by BBC Verify show shrunken glaciers, scorched areas left by wildfires, green fields turned arid and lower river levels.
And some landmarks have been affected, too. The Palace of Versailles, south of the French capital Paris, appears as an island of trees surrounded by brown fields in these images.
The EU's climate monitoring service, Copernicus, has confirmed that western Europe experienced its hottest June-to-July period on record.
The immediate cause of the heatwaves has been persistent high-pressure weather systems bringing clear, sunny skies and allowing temperatures to build, according to the Met Office.
But climate change, mainly due to the burning of fossil fuels, has been raising average temperatures for decades and making hot spells much more likely and intense.
We've taken a look at how the sweltering weather has left its mark on landscapes across the continent.
The waters of the Danube, Europe's second-longest river, have dropped to their lowest levels for 30 years in several countries.
This has led to unusual discoveries on the river bed, including the bones of a mammoth in Bulgaria and a sunken WW2 warship in Serbia. You can see the sunken ship has emerged from the deep in the right-hand image below.
And where the river snakes through Hungary and Romania, nuclear power stations have been forced to shut down or run at reduced capacity for some time because of an inability to use river water for cooling.
Meanwhile on the Rhine, some cargo vessels have been left stranded and river cruises have been cancelled.
Even the snow-capped peaks of the Alps have not escaped the heat.
Ongoing measurements suggest this summer could become one of the worst ever recorded for melting Alpine glaciers, with more than a month of the season still to go.
After a mild winter, glaciers had less snow cover than usual at the end of April - and an unusually early heatwave the following month accelerated the melting of snow.
This exposed the ice beneath, leaving the glaciers vulnerable to melting faster in subsequent heatwaves.
As you can see below, satellite imagery suggests much of the front of Rhône Glacier in Switzerland has retreated by 50m (160ft) or more since the same time last year.
In a stable climate, glaciers would be expected to remain more or less the same size over the long-term.
Dr Lander van Tricht, glaciologist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, said in recent years climate change has led to "much less snow in winter and much, much more melt in summer.
"And if we continue this trend, then the future looks very dramatic for the Alps."
To assess whether 2026 is unusual we used the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), a measure which uses satellite data to assess how green and healthy vegetation is. Lower readings indicate more sparse or stressed vegetation.
The NDVI this summer came in below a five-year benchmark of 2021 to 2025 across about 70% of France. Close to half the UK and roughly 40% of western Germany showed the same.
Prof Andrew Challinor, from the University of Leeds, said the images were "consistent with widespread water stress", which "does not bode well" given much of Europe's land is covered by crops meaning it could hit the agriculture industry and food production.
In the worst-affected areas, soil moisture is lower than on about 98% of comparable dates in the historical record, according to Prof Luis Samaniego, from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research.
And, he warns, even if rain returns, some of the agricultural damage may already have been done.
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
Alpine glaciers will record some of the worst melting ever measured this summer.
Likely · Within weeks

Railway operators and experts are preparing for extreme weather as a record-breaking El Niño threatens to disrupt UK rail infrastructure, prompting calls for updated design standards and increased investment in drainage and track resilience.

A planned hyperscale datacentre in outer London could generate over 1m tonnes of CO2 annually, sparking environmental concerns and grid strain warnings as the UK races to expand AI infrastructure.

Wrongly discarded lithium batteries, particularly from vapes, cause over 10 fires a week at UK recycling centres, costing £1bn annually and prompting calls for a mandatory deposit scheme.

Aerial footage of the National Trust’s Holnicote estate in Somerset shows that rewilded wetlands and restored rivers remained lush during summer heatwaves, contrasting with parched surrounding land and highlighting nature-based climate adaptation.

A planned hyperscale datacentre in north Ockendon, outer London, would generate over 1m tonnes of CO2 annually and consume massive electricity, sparking environmental concerns.

The Met Office warns a developing El Niño event over the Pacific Ocean is likely to be the strongest in living memory, potentially making 2027 the hottest year on record and increasing extreme weather risks globally.