Very high temperatures for the season at record levels were recorded in the Mediterranean Sea in mid-August 2024.
The average daily surface temperature of the Mediterranean Sea reached a new record in mid-August, reaching 28.9°C and surpassing the previous year’s record, Spain’s leading marine research center announced.
According to Climatebook.gr, the highest prices are found in the central and eastern regions of the Mediterranean basin. Sea surface temperatures in these areas range from 29°C to 31°C, while deviations from normal levels for the season locally exceed 5°C in the Adriatic Sea and 2-4°C in the southeast. In addition, high sea temperature values are also observed in the Ionian Sea with the local temperature reaching 29°C.
The only areas that record temperatures close to normal levels for the season are the Aegean, thanks to meltemias that keep temperatures around 25 °C, and the western part of the Mediterranean (e.g. Gulf of Lion, Balearic Islands), also due to the effect of strong local northerly winds.
More frequent heat waves in the Mediterranean
As Dimitris Velaoras, Ph.D. in Physical Oceanography and senior researcher at the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (ELKETHE), reports to the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency, studies carried out since the 1980s show that in the Aegean part and also in the eastern part of Crete, “that is, in the Levant”, there is an increase in sea surface temperature of around 0.5 degrees per decade. “The permanent and continuous increase in sea surface temperature is most intense in the Mediterranean and especially in its eastern part, that is, the Ionian Sea and to the east. The Levantine and Aegean system seems to have an increase in surface temperature of around 0.4 to 0.5 degrees Celsius per decade. In the lower strata there is also an increase there, but it is much smaller”, Velaoras explains to APE-MPE.
At the same time, seafarers are increasingly frequent heat waves in the Mediterranean (Mediterranean Marine Heat Waves), a phenomenon that, however, according to Mr. Velaora, is short-lived. According to him, heat waves in the atmosphere affect the first 10 meters of the sea surface, increasing its temperature by 5 to 6 degrees.
“Just as heat in the atmosphere is a transitory phenomenon, the same occurs in the sea. In other words, the temperature will increase and at some point begin to decrease to return to normal levels. The issue is that these sea heat waves have been occurring more and more frequently in recent years. Just as heat waves in the atmosphere have. And this is a shock to the ecosystem,” Velaoras emphasizes.
With information from APE-MPE