A heat wave that recently swept United States has nothing on Somalia’s years-long dry spell, as new space-based drought images show.

The satellite animation (above) depicts 16 weeks of soil moisture levels in the Horn of Africa, including Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. The latter nation, which lies along the Horn’s eastern edge, hasn’t seen rain in two years and almost 80 percent of its livestock have perished as a result. An ongoing two-decades-long war and prolonged famine also haven’t helped.

Europe’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite gathered these images from 471 miles up. They reveal how agricultural regions in the south — normally wet from April through June — were baked by the dry spell.

Somalia’s wet season woes fit into a larger tapestry of shifting climates across the planet. When global soil moisture levels in 2010 are compared to a 20-year average (below), the extent to which regions are growing drier or wetter reveals itself.

Images: 1) Soil moisture in the Horn of Africa, April 2011 through July 2011. Orange and yellow show low soil moisture while green and blue depict higher moisture levels. (CESBIO/ESA) 2) Soil moisture worldwide in 2010 compared to a 20-year monthly average. Reds shows lower-than-normal soil moisture (compared to the average), while blues reveal increased soil moisture levels. (WACMOS)

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