World’s oceans hit hottest EVER recorded temperature after soaking up the warmth from climate change, scientists say
- Average water temperatures have surpassed a record set in March 2016
- READ MORE: Florida coast hits ‘hot tub-like’ temperatures of 97°F (36°C)
Summer 2023 is adding more worrying records to the history books, with the world’s oceans hitting their hottest ever recorded temperature, scientists have revealed.
Data from the EU’s Copernicus programme shows that the average sea temperatures this week hit 69.72°F (20.96°C), beating a record of 69.71°F (20.95°C) set in March 2016.
Average sea temperatures have been climbing steadily since the 1970s, the data reveals, due to greenhouse gases trapping more heat and making the water feel ‘like a bath’, according to one expert.
Global air surface temperatures for July 2023 were also expected to make it the hottest month on record.
The new data follows the hottest June on record and extreme weather events, including heatwaves in Europe, North America and Asia and wildfires in Canada and Greece.
Average sea temperatures have been climbing steadily since records started back in the late 1970s, the data shows. Here, daily global sea surface temperature (°C) are plotted as a time series for each year from January 1, 1979 to July 23, 2023. The years 2023 and 2016 are shown with thick lines shaded in bright red and dark red, respectively. Other years are shown with thin lines and shaded according to the decade, from blue (1970s) to brick red (2020s)
Air surface temperatures are usually the main metric looked at when considering temperature rises, but ocean temperatures are key indicators too (file photo)
READ MORE: Ocean temperatures in Florida hit ‘hot tub-like’ 97°F
A sunbather on Miami Beach, Florida, where sea surface temperatures hit almost 100°F
Staff at the Copernicus climate change monitoring programme blamed ‘anthropogenic’ (human-made) greenhouse gas emissions for the concerning stats.
‘Record-breaking temperatures are part of the trend of drastic increases in global temperatures,’ said Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus climate change service.
‘Anthropogenic emissions are ultimately the main driver of these rising temperatures.’
Air surface temperatures are usually the main metric looked at when considering temperature rises, but ocean temperatures are key indicators too.
Earth’s oceans are considered ‘carbon sinks’, meaning they are good at absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.
But the warmer oceans become, the less adept they are at absorbing CO2, which leads to more of the gas in the atmosphere instead.
This simply adds to the greenhouse effect and in turn fuels climate change, but warmer oceans have other serious implications too.
Increasing water temperatures also result in more evaporation, which creates additional moisture in the atmosphere leading to heavy rainfalls and flooding.
WMO says July is sure to be the hottest month ‘by a significant margin’. Pictured are the 30 warmest months on record globally
READ MORE: July is ‘virtually certain’ to be the world’s hottest month on record
Ablaze: Worldwide temperature readings of the air and sea as well as losses of Antarctic sea ice have all smashed previous records this summer, while wildfires are currently ripping through Greece (pictured) and other parts of the Mediterranean
Oceans also become more acidic when they’re warmer, which threatens marine life such as corals and clams as it can dissolve their calcium carbonate shells and skeletons.
And corals are also threatened by a process called ‘bleaching’ where they turn white, caused by warmer temperatures and other factors.
It follows reports that ocean temperatures off the Florida coast hit ‘hot tub-like’ temperatures last month of 97°F (36°C) which can cause unprecedented damage to fragile coral reefs.
Dr Kathryn Lesneski, a marine biologist at the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, said the ‘water feels like a bath when you jump in’.
‘Right now there is widespread coral bleaching at shallow reefs in Florida and many corals have already died,’ she told the BBC.
As for global air surface temperatures last month, records were broken four days in a row, from July 3-6, according to Copernicus data.
All days since then have been hotter than the previous record for average global air surface temperature of 62.2°F (16.8°C), set on August 13, 2016, it reveals.
The hottest day last month was July 6, when the global average reached 62.7°F (17.08°C), and the values recorded on July 5 and 7 were within 0.01°C of this.
The EU service stresses that these figures refer to the global average – so lower than a single typically ‘hot’ temperature reading – but as an average it is unusually high.
Coral bleaching (seen here in the Great Barrier Reef) is thought to have been caused by heat stress due to warmer water temperatures as a result of global climate change
Scientists are warning the soaring temperatures could devastate coral reefs. Pictured: A healthy reef displaying vibrant colour
Data also shows the global mean surface air temperature for the first 23 days of July was 62.5°F (16.95°C) – although an average for the whole month is yet to be revealed.
But this is above the 61.9°F (16.63°C) recorded for the full month of July 2019, which is currently the hottest month on record.
Scientists at Copernicus and the World Meteorological Organisation have already said they expect July 2023 to smash the record set by July 2019 and became the new hottest month on record.
Once they have data for the whole of last month rather than just the first 23 days will they know if it has set the record – although they strongly suspect it will.
Pictured, global air surface temperatures for 1-23 July for all months of July from 1940 to 2023. As yet, there’s only data available for the first 23 days of July, so prior Julys have been compared accordingly for this graph. Once the data for the whole of July 2023 is available, scientists will know if the month smashes the record for ‘hottest month on record’ (although they strongly suspect it will)
The data follows extreme weather events, including heatwaves in Europe, North America and Asia, and wildfires in Canada and Greece. Pictured, flames burn a forest in Vati village, on the Aegean Sea island of Rhodes, southeastern Greece, July 25, 2023
The experts said fossil fuel use is to blame for the extreme heat that has July on track to be the warmest ever ‘by a significant margin’ – potentially 62.51°F (16.95°C) as an average for the entire month.
‘The extreme weather which has affected many millions of people in July is unfortunately the harsh reality of climate change and a foretaste of the future,’ said World Meteorological Organization’s Secretary-General Professor Petteri Taalas.
‘The need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is more urgent than ever before. Climate action is not a luxury but a must.’
In a chilling statement last week, UN chief Antonio Guterres has said the era of global warming had ended and that our planet is now entering an ‘era of global boiling’.
He said: ‘Climate change is here. It is terrifying. And it is just the beginning. The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived.’
EARTH IS ENTERING ‘THE ERA OF GLOBAL BOILING’ – UN CHIEF
UN chief Antonio Guterres today pleaded for immediate action on climate change, saying that record-shattering July temperatures show Earth has passed from a warming phase into an ‘era of global boiling’.
Speaking in New York, the secretary-general described the intense heat across the Northern Hemisphere as a ‘cruel summer’.
He said: ‘Climate change is here. It is terrifying. And it is just the beginning. The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived.’
The extreme impacts of climate change have been in line with scientists’ ‘predictions and repeated warnings,’ Guterres said, adding that the ‘only surprise is the speed of the change’.
‘The air is unbreathable. The heat is unbearable. And the level of fossil fuel profits and climate inaction is unacceptable,’ said the former Portuguese prime minister.
‘Leaders must lead,’ he said. ‘No more hesitancy. No more excuses. No more waiting for others to move first.’
Ahead of the Climate Ambition Summit he is set to host in September, Guterres called on developed countries to commit to achieving carbon neutrality as close to 2040 as possible, and for emerging economies as close as possible to 2050.
The ‘destruction’ unleashed by humanity ‘must not inspire despair, but action,’ he said, warning that to prevent the worst outcomes humanity ‘must turn a year of burning heat into a year of burning ambition’.
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