BRATISLAVA, July 30 (Xinhua) -- The Danube River recorded its lowest-ever flow rate for July at the Bratislava/Devin monitoring station this week, the News Agency of the Slovak Republic reported on Thursday, as the Danube in the Slovak capital faced driest July on record.
According to preliminary data released by the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute (SHMU), the river's flow measured about 725 cubic meters per second at the Bratislava/Devin station. Hydrologists said such a low July flow has never been observed since records began in 1876.
According to Pavla Pekarova of the Institute of Hydrology with the Slovak Academy of Sciences, the Danube normally reaches its lowest levels in winter, while water levels are usually higher from May to July due to Alpine snowmelt. She attributed the unusually low summer flow to earlier snowmelt caused by rising air temperatures.
SHMU said this July has been the driest on record for the Danube in Bratislava. The river's average July flow stood at 939.2 cubic meters per second, nearly 29 percent lower than the previous record low set in 2003.
Scientists said the Danube's long-term average discharge in Bratislava is about 2,050 cubic meters per second. Although annual average flows have remained broadly stable, river discharge has shown a declining trend over the past three decades.
Pekarova said future flow conditions will largely depend on rainfall across the Danube basin.
