Heat transforms Barcelona’s landscape and speeds up the spread of brown

The change is not merely a feeling on the ground. Images captured by satellites such as NASA’s Terra clearly show how surface vegetation has dried rapidly across much of the Iberian Peninsula, including areas near Catalunya.

The transformation follows a spring of contrasts. Winter brought abundant rain to Catalunya and allowed vegetation to burst forth, but the lack of rainfall in April, May’s irregularity and early heat episodes have quickly changed the appearance of the land.

Cereal fields and herbaceous plants are the first to show it. Where green dominated only a few weeks ago, much drier surfaces now appear, a visible sign that soil moisture is falling and that meteorological summer has arrived with force.

The phenomenon can also be seen in other peninsular areas, such as the Ebro basin, Ponent, the Meseta, the Guadalquivir valley and the Guadiana. Green holds up better in the Pyrenees, the Cantabrian region and some wet parts of Galicia, where conditions remain less extreme.

In the Pyrenees, the change has been different. Snow accumulated during winter has melted rapidly because of April and May heat, and alpine meadows have gone from brown to green in a short time. It is a striking contrast with the drying advancing in low-lying and agricultural areas.

The Ebro delta also shows a particular evolution. Flooding rice fields and the sprouting of plants have brought green back to this area, the opposite of what is occurring in many inland rain-fed fields.

This change of colour is more than an early-summer postcard. Vegetation drying affects the landscape, increases the feeling of aridity and recalls how directly heat and drought affect farming, water and everyday city life.