Officials grow concerned as Mediterranean Sea poised to break all-time temperature records — here's how it could impact the rest of the world

The Mediterranean Sea is positioned to break its highest recorded temperature of all time, Fox Weather reports.

What's happening?

According to Fox Weather, satellites monitoring sea surface temperatures in the Mediterranean basin identified highs that were "consistently breaking records" throughout June.

Vast swaths of the Mediterranean Sea experienced recorded temperatures far above normal that month, typically surpassing standard temperatures by 5 degrees to 10 degrees Fahrenheit.

"Even greater anomalies" — meaning readings more than 10 degrees higher than normal — were observed in pockets of the basin.

In August, France 24 reported that the Mediterranean Sea "reached its highest surface temperature with a daily median of 28.9 degrees Celsius" (84 degrees Fahrenheit) that month, breaking the previous record of 28.7 degrees Celsius — which was set in July 2023.

Oceanographer at the Institut de Ciències del Mar, Justino Martínez, commented on the newly broken record. He explained that the novel high was part of a larger pattern in the Mediterranean Sea, more worrisome than a single day's temperatures.

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"What is remarkable is not so much to reach a maximum on a given day, but to observe a long period of high temperatures, even without breaking a record. Since 2022, surface temperatures have been abnormally high for long periods, even in a climate-change environment," he said.

Why are record sea surface highs concerning?

As Martínez pointed out, the sustained "long period of high temperatures" is, while less likely to make headlines, the crux of the issue.

As average temperatures rise and seas continue warming, volatile atmospheric conditions act like "steroids" for extreme weather, forms of which have been battering Mediterranean countries as flooding, excess heat, arid conditions, and wildfires.

Hurricanes, wildfires, and other forms of intense weather have always been part of the climate, but a hotter planet means these incidents occur more frequently, and when they strike, they're deadlier and harder to predict.

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Torrential rains late last year — described by the World Meteorological Organization as extreme weather — killed over 200 people in Spain and caused widespread devastation. Italian climate scientist Stefano Materia attributed their severity to a warming world.

"Droughts and floods are the two sides of the same climate change coin … that means more energy, more water vapor, more instability — all ingredients fueling terrifying storms when atmospheric conditions are favorable," said Materia.

"The Mediterranean Sea is a time bomb these days," he lamented.

What's being done about rising sea surface temperatures?

Rising ocean temperatures aren't happening in a vacuum, and staying aware of critical climate issues is an important way to track these issues individually.

Researchers have developed novel solutions, including floating homes and office buildings, as a bulwark against rising seas, and others have created "smart reefs" to address the problem.

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