STRIKING satellite images of the UK have exposed the impact extreme heat has had on the landscape, amid the hottest summer on record.

While the images show that the southeast of England has been particularly affected by the lack of rain, they also reveal the effects the extreme weather has had on Fife and the east coast of Scotland.

The pictures were shared on Twitter on Wednesday by James Cheshire, a professor of geographic information and cartography at University College London.

He wrote: “The scarred landscape of the climate crisis is clear to see from today's extraordinary satellite image.”

Cheshire wrote on his website that the images were “unlike anything he’s seen before” and raised concerns that, with no sign of the hot and dry weather abating, the situation looked to only get worse.

He also highlighted how the images show the distinct boundary lines between regions that get more rain due to being further west and at higher altitudes.

This summer has seen Scotland record its highest ever temperatures with the mercury hitting 34.8C in the borders in July.

The UK also recorded its first day that exceeded 40C in the same month, in a summer that has lit a fire under climate campaigners concerned with rising temperatures.

Scotland is currently in the throes of a heatwave that has led the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to issue a wildfire warning that will be in place until Monday 15 August.

Members of the public have been advised to take care when in the countryside, and to avoid lighting fires outdoors.

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Scottish Green MSP Mark Ruskell said the pictures highlighted the fact "we are now living in the age of climate change". 

He added: "The reality of the climate crisis is that we will continue to see more extreme weather of every type. This year we’ve lived with extreme flooding, wind storms, blistering temperatures and now disastrously low rainfall.

"Scotland’s east coast is becoming increasingly parched, while we see heartbreaking images of dried-out rivers and wildfires across Europe every day.

"As well as transforming our economy to reduce pollution, we also need to step up efforts to adapt to the huge changes we’re already seeing, without that there will be catastrophic collapses in nature, deaths and economic damage. We are now living in the age of climate change and it has come so much quicker than predicted.”

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A spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion UK said: "It’s clearer than ever that the climate crisis is not something that will be experienced just by future generations. It is here and it is now. For many living in the global south it has been a lived reality for much longer.

"The world has known for other thirty years that action was needed and yet emissions have continued to rise."