The oceans broke a new world temperature record this week, with their surface reaching 20.96°C, according to data from the European observatory Copernicus announced on Friday. The surface temperature of the oceans “reached 20.96°C on July 30” 2023 according to the ERA5 database, while “the previous record was 20.95°C in March 2016”, said a spokeswoman. at AFP. These data relate to the oceans between the 60th parallel north and south, thus excluding only the polar regions.
The oceans absorb 90% of the excess heat from the Earth system caused by human activity during the industrial era and this energy accumulation continues to increase as greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere. Piers Forster, from the University of Leeds in the UK, called the Copernicus data “very robust” and points out that they are confirmed by satellite observations and temperature readings directly at sea from ships and buoys. meteorological.
“An immediate threat to some marine life”
“The ocean heat wave poses an immediate threat to some marine life, we are already seeing signs of coral bleaching in Florida as a direct result and I expect further negative consequences,” said this professor specializing in climate change. Last week, North Atlantic waters had already reached an average temperature never before measured, with a record average surface water temperature of 24.9°C observed on July 26, according to data. from the United States Oceanic and Atmospheric Observation Agency (NOAA). The North Atlantic generally peaks in temperature in September.
Since March, which is the month in which the North Atlantic begins to warm after winter, the temperature curve has been moving well above that of previous years, with a gap having widened further in recent weeks. The North Atlantic has thus become an emblematic observation point for the overheating of the planet’s oceans, under the effect of global warming caused by greenhouse gases. A few days earlier, it was the Mediterranean Sea which had beaten its daily heat record, with a median temperature of 28.71°C, according to the main Spanish maritime research center.