The sharks may have gotten even hotter after the world’s oceans reached their highest recorded surface temperature, according to scientists.
The EU’s weather service, Copernicus, recently announced that sea surface temperatures averaged 20.96 degrees Celsius, surpassing the previous highest temperature recorded in 2016 of 20.95 degrees Celsius. Warmer seas pose problems for fish and corals and can lead to sea level rise. As the oceans warm, fish like cod may need to travel further north to reach the cooler seas they love.
Predators such as sharks can become aggressive as they become confused in warmer conditions.
The data you see above shows that average sea temperatures have risen steadily since the late 1970s, when records began. Here, the daily global sea surface temperature is plotted as a time series for each year from January 1, 1979 to July 23, 2023. The years 2023 and 2016 are shown with bold lines shaded in bright red and crimson, respectively. Other years are shown in thin lines and shaded by decade from blue (1970s) to brick red (2020s).
WMO shows that July was the warmest month by a significant margin. The chart above shows the 30 hottest months on record worldwide. Scientists are investigating why the oceans are so warm, but they say climate change is making the seas much warmer, as they absorb most of the warming from greenhouse gas emissions.
The temperature record was broken this year following heatwaves in several seas, including the UK, the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Mexico. Professor Rowan Sutton, from the University of Reading and the National Center for Atmospheric Science, said the warming of the ocean is worrying.
This is an alarm bell indicating that the most urgent measures must be taken to prevent future warming and adapt to the drastic changes unfolding before our eyes.
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