Scientists: Climate change pushes European sea temperatures to record levels

Scientists said on Wednesday that climate change driven by human activities is the primary factor behind the recent record-high sea temperatures in Europe, warning of severe consequences for marine ecosystems and coastal regions.

Europe’s seas were not spared from the intense heat waves that many countries experienced this summer. Last month, the average temperature of the Mediterranean Sea reached 27 degrees Celsius, the highest level ever recorded for July, while a buoy off the coast of Mallorca recorded 33 degrees Celsius in early August.

An analysis conducted by the World Weather Attribution group, which uses peer-reviewed methods to assess the role of global warming in extreme weather events, found that human-induced climate change raised Mediterranean Sea temperatures by approximately 2 degrees Celsius and those of western European seas by about 1.4 degrees Celsius.

Claire Bergen, a climate scientist at Maynooth University in Ireland and a contributor to the study, said this signals a reshaping of ecosystems upon which coastal areas fully depend for food and income, as well as the potential to cause extreme and harmful weather events on land.

The analysis concluded that the peak water temperatures recorded this year in the eastern and western Mediterranean, along the Bay of Biscay, and the Iberian coast, would have been “virtually impossible” without human-induced climate change.