Turkey experiencing severe drought, NASA maps show

ANTALYA – Demirören News Agency

Turkey began 2021 experiencing intense drought in a majority of its provinces, two maps published on Jan. 19 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) showed.

More than 80 percent of Turkey’s soil is facing “severe drought,” NASA’s maps showed.

The two maps were prepared by combining satellite images and Turkey’s groundwater and soil moisture data, said NASA in a written statement.

“The drought we’re living is under NASA’s radar,” Environment and Urbanization Deputy Minister Emin Birpınar said on Twitter.

“The precipitation that happened lately was a little cure to the problem, but the situation is still serious,” said Barış Önal, a meteorologist from Istanbul Technical University on his Twitter account, also posting the NASA maps.

Turkey may face big threats to its agriculture if water levels do not rise in the near future.

“The country spent months in 2019 without precipitation. In the second half of 2020, the country survived drought.

“Since July 2020, the rate of rainfall or snow in all provinces of the country was under the norms,” said in the statement.

Precipitation in the country between October and December 2020, was some 48 percent less than the average of the numbers between 1981 and 2010, it added.

There are three colors on the maps presenting groundwater and soil moisture levels. The blue areas are regions with more water than normal levels. The orange and the red zones present regions with less than normal levels.