The water temperature in the Mediterranean Sea has reached a new record: on Thursday, researchers measured an average surface temperature of 28.9 degrees, the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM) in Barcelona announced.
This means that the surface temperature of the Mediterranean Sea is higher than ever for the second year in a row. The previous record was set in August 2003, when the daily median was 28.25 degrees. This means that the water temperature was above this value on half of the days of the month.
The current preliminary measurements are based on satellite data from the EU Earth observation programme Copernicus. Locally, water temperatures of more than 30 degrees have been measured since the beginning of August this year, including in Egypt, Monaco, Corsica and near the Spanish city of Valencia.
Long periods of heat
What is particularly striking is that the heat waves are now long-lasting, says ICM researcher Justino Martínez. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has already described the Mediterranean as a ‘hotspot’ for climate change. Biodiversity has been declining since the 1980s. By 2060, about a fifth of fish and invertebrate species used in fisheries in the eastern Mediterranean could become extinct.
The only way to stop this is to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. According to an analysis by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) research network, the current heatwave in the Mediterranean would be “practically impossible” without human-induced climate change. In addition, climate change is making heatwaves hotter, longer and more frequent.
Source: Krone
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