Measured on Thursday

Mediterranean sets new record at 28.9 degrees

Montgat in Spain(Bild: Alex Kiriuchkov - stock.adobe.com)

The water temperature in the Mediterranean has reached a new record high: on Thursday, researchers measured a median surface temperature of 28.9 degrees, according to the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM) in Barcelona.

This means that the surface temperature of the Mediterranean is higher than ever before 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 the days of the month.

The current provisional measurements are based on satellite data from the EU's Copernicus Earth observation program. Water temperatures of more than 30 degrees have also been measured locally since the beginning of August this year, including in Egypt, Monaco, Corsica and near the Spanish city of Valenica.

Long periods of heat
ICM researcher Justino Martínez said that it is particularly remarkable that the heatwaves now last for long periods of time. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change already describes the Mediterranean as a "hotspot" of climate change. According to the report, biodiversity has been declining since the 1980s. By 2060, around a fifth of the fish species and invertebrates used for fishing in the eastern Mediterranean could become extinct.

The only way to counteract this is to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees compared to pre-industrial times. According to an analysis by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) research network, the current heatwave in the Mediterranean would be "practically impossible" without man-made climate change. Climate change is also making heatwaves hotter, longer and more frequent.