Devastating wildfires have swept through Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces in southern China since March 15, 2024, claiming four lives in Yunnan and leading to significant evacuations and damage. Reports from March 18 indicate that nearly 4 900 individuals have been evacuated in Sichuan’s Yajiang County alone, with the fires ravaging over 10 000 ha (24 710 acres) of land.
Spain’s Catalonia region is experiencing its worst drought on record, with the Sau Reservoir, a crucial water source, severely depleted as seen in March 2024 satellite images. The past three years have marked the driest period since 1914, prompting the Catalan government to declare a drought emergency on February 1, 2024, and impose water consumption restrictions on its residents and businesses.
Sentinel-2 satellite image acquired on March 11, 2024, shows Tinakula Volcano in the Solomon Islands undergoing a new effusive eruption, with lava flowing about 1 km down its western slope into the ocean. This eruption continues the activity that began in December 2018.
The effusive eruption that started two days ago at Fernandina volcano in Ecuador continues on March 5, 2024, with several lava flows on the SSE slope of the volcano.
Increased eruptive activity continues at Mexico’s Popocatepetl volcano on March 1, 2024. The activity over the past 24 hours consisted of 148 exhalations and 1 034 minutes of tremor.
Satellite images from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission have revealed the scale of an oil spill off Trinidad and Tobago’s coast, following The Gulfstream shipwreck. The spill has extended over 160 km (100 miles) westwards, threatening neighboring marine areas.
Data released by the Icelandic Met Office (IMO) shows that about 15 million cubic meters (530 million cubic feet) of lava flowed in the first seven hours of the eruption near Grindavik on February 8, 2024. The eruption has since decreased significantly but is still not over.
Barcelona and the wider region of Catalonia have declared a drought emergency following three consecutive years of insufficient rainfall, leading to reservoir levels falling critically low. Pere Aragones, the head of the regional government, announced immediate water-saving restrictions affecting six million people. With reservoirs at less than 16% capacity, the emergency is described as the worst drought Catalonia has experienced in a century, necessitating drastic reductions in water usage for residents, municipalities, farmers, and businesses alike.
The Alaska Volcano Observatory reported a continuous slow eruption of lava in the summit crater of Great Sitkin Volcano as of 19:30 UTC on January 30, 2024. The Aviation Color Code remains at Orange and Alert Level at Watch.
Sentinel-2 satellite captured a stunning view of Munich and its surroundings on December 7, 2023, still blanketed in snow following the city’s heaviest snowfall in 20 years, recorded on December 2.
