Mediterranean Sea waters have once again reached record-breaking temperatures seen in summer 2023, Spain’s leading maritime research centre warns.
On 11 August, the average daily temperature on the Mediterranean Sea's surface hit 28.67°C. This figure closely tracks the record of 28.71°C documented on 24 July 2023, said Justino Martinez, a researcher from the Barcelona-based Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM) and the Catalan institute, ICATMAR.
These preliminary findings are derived from satellite data dating back to 1982, and provided by European observatory Copernicus.
For the second consecutive year, the Mediterranean basin's waters, recognised as a climate change “hot spot,” have warmed beyond the median of 28.25°C, a record set on 23 August 2003.
“What is remarkable is not so much that it peaked on a given day, but to notice such elevated temperatures over a long period, even if it’s not a record,” Martinez commented.
“Since 2022, surface temperatures have been abnormally high over a long period, even when considering the context of climate change,” he added.
Nonetheless, 2023’s level was reached “more than 15 days later and typically surface temperatures drop from the end of August onwards,” the scientist qualified.
Local waters exceeding 30°C have been reported since early August, especially at a buoy off Monaco, plus another near Corsica, and one near Valencia in Spain.
