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A combination of severe heat and little rain has left many of Europe’s rivers drier than normal this summer, revealing formerly submerged relics and blind spots in the continent’s supply chain. The two rivers at the center of the crisis are the Danube and the Rhine. Both serve as major arteries for shipping and freight
Water levels on the Danube River, the second longest in Europe, have dropped so low because of drought that the hulks of dozens of World War II German battleships are emerging into view. They are a curious distraction from the summer heat crisis. The Danube’s record low water levels also have forced power plants to the brink
The River Rhine has fallen to record low levels in several locations in Germany and the Netherlands as prolonged heatwaves continue across Europe. Last week, levels were measured in Cologne in western Germany and in Lobith, where the Rhine crosses from Germany into the Netherlands, that were lower than at any point since records began.
Is a river alive? Robert Macfarlane Penguin (2026) Turn off your headlamp in the Los Cedros cloud forest in Ecuador and the darkness begins to shine. Fallen branches and tree stumps glow a soft silvery yellow, illuminated by webs of fungi beneath the forest floor. It is a fascinating opening to the work of writer
The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society has found two of three ships that sank in the same Lake Superior storm more than a century ago, locating one in 2021 and the other in 2022.