Hot and high temperature is coming How Europe is Responding to Drought
“Pointed sprouts of lotuses have newly emerged.?Dragonflies have already landed on top of them.”When the spring is coming to an end and the green and tender colors of the vegetation have faded, Lixia" will come. The sun is high overhead, and the sunshine is abundant, and the rainy season comes with it, which is a good time for crops to grow vigorously.
However, many European countries are now facing their second consecutive year of drought after suffering a once-in-500-year summer drought and an unusually dry winter last year.
The impact of the ongoing drought has raised concerns about drinking water supplies, agriculture and energy production - will Europe be hit by another severe drought this year?
Why Europe is in a state of water shortage
At the foot of the Pyrenees in southwestern France, there is an artificial lake—Lake Montel, which normally covers an area of more than 570 hectares and is famous for its blue-green lake water and rich aquatic products. This year, however, Lake Montel has shrunk by more than 80 percent after France suffered its driest winter in 64 years.
In February this year, the precipitation in Ariège, where Lake Montel is in France, was less than 20% of the normal precipitation in the same period of previous years. In addition to agriculture, the originally developed leisure sports and tourism in Lake Montel also suffered heavy losses, leaving many sailboats stranded on the dry lakebed.
Precipitation continues to fall?the outlook is not optimistic
This past winter saw unusually low precipitation and snowfall in parts of France, the UK, Ireland, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany. According to monitoring data from the Italian International Environmental Monitoring Center, despite the snowfall, compared with the average level of the past 12 years, the amount of snowfall in the mountains is only one-third of the average level.
Normally, the region reaches its maximum water storage capacity in early March every year, usually 10 billion to 13 billion cubic meters of water is stored in the form of snow, but this year's storage is less than 4 billion cubic meters, which is less than the average level. 63%. At the end of February, the water level of Lake Garda, Italy's largest lake, dropped to its lowest level in the past 30 years.
Drying of rivers affects agriculture and other fields
Last summer's high temperature and drought combined with insufficient winter rain and snow prevented European rivers, lakes, and other water bodies from being replenished in time. Soil moisture and river flow in most parts of southern and western Europe were at abnormally low levels.
The amount of snow in the European "water tower"-the Alps is far below the average level of the same period in history, resulting in a significant reduction in the amount of snowmelt flowing into rivers in surrounding areas this spring and early summer. The water level at the Lac du Chambon reservoir in the French Alps is so low that the hydroelectric plant cannot function properly.
Last summer's drought hit Europe's energy supply hard, with hydropower production across the EU falling by 19%, the lowest level in the past 20 years. Meanwhile, the drought has significantly reduced yields of corn, sunflower and other summer crops.
Drought exposes riverbeds, hampering power generation
France's longest river, the Loire, is partly dry, leaving large swaths of its bed bare and in some places even walkable. The operation of the Belleville nuclear power plant on the banks of the Loire River is also restricted because nuclear power plants are usually built on the riverside, and only through the river water can the nuclear reactor be effectively cooled. The hot summer is when the demand for electricity in France is at its highest.
Europe's hydropower could come under heavy pressure again this summer if there is no significant precipitation.
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Combine solar panels with hydropower to save water resources
The combination of solar panels and hydropower saves water resources A 2018 study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) pointed out that installing floating solar photovoltaic devices on more than 24,000 manufactured reservoirs can generate about 10% of the total power generation in the United States every year. The findings, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, reveal for the first time the potential of floating photovoltaics in the United States.
Sika Gadzanku, an expert in floating solar technology at NREL, pointed out that floating solar panels can reduce the temperature of the modules, which helps to reduce the temperature of the solar panel, and the cooling effect can improve the working efficiency of the solar panel, so it can emit more electricity than traditional solar panels.?
Gadzanku?said that because the solar panels float on the water, there is no problem with shading. Floating solar panels can avoid water evaporation. If the local area is prone to drought, the combination of solar panels and hydropower may save a lot of water.
The NREL team also found that running floating photovoltaics next to hydroelectric facilities could improve energy output and save costs, based on existing transmission infrastructure.
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