Record in the Mediterranean:waters at 31.96 degrees centigrade in Egypt

Never before had the temperature of the Mediterranean been so high.The new record reached in el-Arish, Egypt, according to data released by Copernicus.

The Mediterranean it's getting hotter.And if this may seem pleasant to some holidaymakers, for the balance of the marine ecosystem, as well as for the climate, it is a disturbing news.August 15th a record was broken again in the sea enclosed between northern Africa and southern Europe:never there water temperature it had been so high.According to data reported by the European climate monitoring service Copernicus, the 31.96 degrees centigrade, on the coast opposite el-Arish, Egypt.

The average temperature of the Mediterranean also hits a record

Although it is about preliminary values, which require further checks before being validated, what is surprising is the distance from previous record.In fact, at the beginning of August, an all-time high of 30 degrees was recorded Nice, in France.The data of Mid-August it is therefore astonishing, since it exceeds that of about ten days earlier by almost two degrees.

But beyond the peaks, what is worrying is the average temperature of the surface waters of the Mediterranean, which again on August 15th reached i 28.9 degrees centigrade, beating the previous maximum, equal to 28.71 degrees, which dated back to 24 July 2023, as confirmed by the Institute of Marine Sciences of Barcelona and the Catalan research center Icatmar.

The Mediterranean is warming by 0.4 degrees centigrade every decade

What is not surprising, however, is the trend:The warming of our seas and oceans is directly linked to that of the earth's atmosphere, which in turn depended on anthropic activities, starting with the combustion of font fossils (coal, oil and gas).Since the 1980s, in fact, the Mediterranean has warmed on average by 0.4 degrees centigrade every decade.Confirming the fact that the macro-region is warming faster than the global average.

It is no coincidence that the countries bordering the Mediterranean are also subject to waves of extreme heat, Of drought, a mega-fires as those that hit Greece during the summer.Furthermore, a sea water temperature that is too high modifies the flora and fauna, attracting tropical species which may represent a threat to local ones.Furthermore, a higher temperature also means more potential energy that it can transform into extreme weather events such as Mediterranean storms and hurricanes.

“Anomalous data even taking climate change into account”

Talking to the French newspaper Le Monde, Justino Martinez, researcher at Icatmar, explained that today "what is significant is not so much the achievement of a maximum on a given day, but rather observing a long term of such high values, even in the absence of records.As of 2022, surface water temperatures remain high in the long term.This is anomalous data even taking into account the context of climate changes”.