Published on 18 December 2023
The situation arising from the unusually low water levels caused by the El Niño-induced drought in Gatun Lake in Panama recently triggered restrictions and limited the number of ships allowed to sail through the Panama Canal to 22 per day. However, recent rains in November surpassed expectations and brought relief to the area. As a result, the Canal is set to raise the daily transit allowance to 24 vessels per day in January.
The vessels anchored in the Gulf of Panama waiting to pass through the canal can be seen in this image acquired by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites on 10 December.
The open data provided by Copernicus are useful for maritime traffic monitoring, helping to improve navigation safety and efficiency.
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over on the Copernicus Image of the Day website