Temperatures in Mediterranean Sea reach global warming cap
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Spanish researchers warn that the increased temperatures in the Mediterranean Sea threaten marine life.
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People cool down on a sweltering hot day at the Mediterranean Sea in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, July 23, 2023. (AP)
Spanish researchers from Spain's Institute of Marine Sciences have recorded, on Monday, the highest temperatures the Mediterranean Sea has seen, AFP reported.
The researchers said, "We attained a new record... in the daily median sea surface temperature of the Mediterranean: 28.71C," adding that "The last record was in August 23, 2003 with a median value of 28.25C," after they analyzed data from the satellites of the European Earth observation program Copernicus.
According to Copernicus, early in June, the global temperatures surpassed pre-industrial temperature levels by more than 1.5C. It is worth noting that based on the 2015 Paris Agreement, 1.5C has been considered the maximum cap for global warming.
The temperatures recorded in the Mediterranean Sea threaten marine life, according to researchers who have also confirmed that between 2015 and 2019, heatwaves have resulted in the decimation of about 50 species.
More than 20% of the fish and invertebrates harvested in the Mediterranean by 2060 may disappear, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a United Nations committee, if global warming exceeds the 1.5C limit.
Read more: Relentless US heat wave sizzles into August
Temperature records were set in different regions across the world, leaving behind a trail of wildfires and floods from the North all the way down to the South.
The warmest summer on record in Europe resulted in 61,672 heat-related deaths, according to research that was released last week. Italy has the highest mortality rate.
While the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) of the UN said the trend of heatwaves "shows no signs of decreasing" as a stark warning of the effects of global warming, the French weather service reported that several local temperature records were broken in southern France.
Local temperature records were established last Tuesday at various monitoring sites in the south of France, including those in the Alps and Pyrenees mountains, it added.
"These events will continue to grow in intensity, and the world needs to prepare for more intense heatwaves," a senior extreme heat advisor at the WMO, John Nairn, told reporters in Geneva.
