Researchers from the Australian National University have processed satellite data that shows the severity of the drought in Australia and the ice loss in Antarctica.
The snapshots found parts of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania to be drier in December of 2018 than during the millennium drought.
The lead researcher Paul Tregoning says the millennium drought which lasted from 2001 to 2009 was the worst since European settlement and the new data points to even drier times ahead.