World's oceans hit hottest EVER recorded temperature of 20.96C after soaking up the warmth from...
Data from the EU's Copernicus programme shows that the average sea temperatures hit 69.72F (20.96C) on July 31, beating a record of 69.71F (20.95C) set in March 2016. Average sea temperatures have been climbing steadily since the 1970s, the data reveals, due to greenhouse gases trapping more heat and making the water feel 'like a bath', according to one expert. Global air surface temperatures for July 2023 were also expected to . The new data follows and extreme weather events, including heatwaves in Europe, North America and Asia and wildfires in Canada and Greece. Staff at the Copernicus climate change monitoring programme blamed 'anthropogenic' (human-made) greenhouse gas emissions for the concerning stats. 'Record-breaking temperatures are part of the trend of drastic increases in global temperatures,' said Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus climate change service. 'Anthropogenic emissions are ultimately the main driver of these rising temperatures.' Air surface temperatures are usually the main metric looked at when considering temperature rises, but ocean temperatures are key indicators too. Earth's oceans are considered 'carbon sinks', meaning they are good at absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. But the warmer oceans become, the less adept they are at absorbing CO2, which leads to more of the gas in the atmosphere instead. This simply adds to the greenhouse effect and in turn fuels climate change, but warmer oceans have other serious implications too. Increasing water temperatures also result in more evaporation, which creates additional moisture in the atmosphere leading to heavy rainfalls and flooding. Oceans also become more acidic when they're warmer, which threatens marine life such as corals and clams as it can dissolve their calcium carbonate shells and skeletons. And corals are also threatened by a process called 'bleaching' where they turn white, caused by warmer temperatures and other factors. It follows reports that ocean temperatures off the Florida coast which can cause unprecedented damage to fragile coral reefs. Dr Kathryn Lesneski, a marine biologist at the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, said the 'water feels like a bath when you jump in'. 'Right now there is widespread coral bleaching at shallow reefs in Florida and many corals have already died,' . As for global air surface temperatures last month, records were broken four days in a row, from July 3-6, according to Copernicus data. All days since then have been hotter than the previous record for average global air surface temperature of 62.2F (16.8C), set on August 13, 2016, it reveals. The hottest day last month was July 6, when the global average reached 62.7F (17.08C), and the values recorded on July 5 and 7 were within 0.01C of this. The EU service stresses that these figures refer to the global average so lower than a single typically 'hot' temperature reading but as an average it is unusually high. Data also shows the global mean surface air temperature for the first 23 days of July was 62.5F (16.95C) although an average for the whole month is yet to be revealed. But this is above the 61.9F (16.63C) recorded for the full month of July 2019, which is currently the hottest month on record. Scientists at Copernicus and the World Meteorological Organisation have already said and became the new hottest month on record. Once they have data for the whole of last month rather than just the first 23 days will they know if it has set the record although they strongly suspect it will. The experts said fossil fuel use is to blame for the extreme heat that has July on track to be the warmest ever 'by a significant margin' potentially 62.51F (16.95C) as an average for the entire month. 'The extreme weather which has affected many millions of people in July is unfortunately the harsh reality of climate change and a foretaste of the future,' said World Meteorological Organization's Secretary-General Professor Petteri Taalas. 'The need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is more urgent than ever before. Climate action is not a luxury but a must.' In a chilling statement last week, UN chief Antonio Guterres has said the era of global warming had ended and that our planet is now entering an 'era of global boiling'. He said: 'Climate change is here. It is terrifying. And it is just the beginning. The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived.'