08/10/2026

Shrinking Danube grounds ships and reveals wrecks

Old shipwrecks and prehistoric bones are being exposed as the Danube River drops to record-low levels amid drought and extreme heat plaguing Europe. Cargo and cruise ships also have run aground on the continent’s second-longest river. Many of the Danube shipwrecks are the remains of World War II Nazi warships scuttled to slow advancing Soviet forces. Serbia is trying to remove the wrecks, but some may still contain explosives. Scientists tie Europe’s extreme heat and drought to climate change.

■Class discussion: Do you think climate change is linked to some extreme weather events and natural disasters? Why or why not? Have weather patterns changed, leading to severe droughts in some regions and record flooding in other areas? What has driven record-high global temperatures in the past decade? How have drastically falling river levels threatened electric power production worldwide, including the United States? Who do you trust for climate information? Politicians? Businesses? Climate scientists?