Europe’s seas are warming at an ‘alarming’ rate – and climate change is largely to blame.
That’s according to a new report by the World Weather Attribution, which warns that the waters surrounding Europe are heating faster than the climate as a whole.
For the report, an international team of scientists assessed the temperatures across four distinct coastal regions this summer.
The results confirmed marine heatwave stretching from Ireland to the Mediterranean, with some regions up to 6°C hotter than normal.
Dr Claire Bergin, a researcher at Maynooth University, Ireland said: ‘This has been a remarkable summer for heat across Europe, but the impacts on our coastal waters are not as well reported.
‘Our attribution analysis shows that human–induced climate change has directly added about 2°C of heat to the Mediterranean to date and over 1.3–1.4°C to Western European seas.
‘While warmer waters for swimming may sound appealing to beachgoers in cooler countries like mine, the impacts on marine life beneath the surface is more serious.
‘This has the potential to completely reshape ecosystems that coastal communities rely on for food and income, and drive damaging extreme weather on land too.’
The waters surrounding Europe are heating faster than the climate as a whole, a new report has warned
For the report, scientists assessed the water temperatures across four key regions – the Celtic Sea, the Western Mediterranean, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Bay of Biscay & Iberian Peninsula.
The results revealed that in most regions, warming over the summer exceeded the global average of 1.4°C.
Further north in the Celtic Sea, temperatures were around 1.2°C higher than average, while over in the Mediterranean, the water was up to 3°C higher.
By combining these readings with climate models, the researchers found that climate change is the main driver.
According to their analysis, climate change has directly caused about 2°C of warming in the Mediterranean, 1.4°C of warming in the Bay of Biscay and Iberian Peninsula, and 1.3°C in the Celtic region.
Professor Thomas Frölicher from the University of Bern said: ‘From the Atlantic waters off Ireland to the Mediterranean sea, Europe’s seas are experiencing an alarming surge in temperatures.
‘Our research shows clearly that this is being driven by climate change, in particular by the continued burning of fossil fuels.
‘Every very extra tonne of carbon we emit pushes Europe’s coastal temperatures and ecosystems into uncharted territory.’
For the report, scientists assessed the water temperatures across four key regions – the Celtic Sea, the Western Mediterranean, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Bay of Biscay & Iberian Peninsula
Worrying, the researchers say this heat could have far reaching consequences – both above and below the water.
Underwater, the extreme heat is wreaking havoc on ecosystems, according to Professor John Bruno from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
‘Extreme ocean heat leads to mass mortality events of habitat–building species like corals, sponges, and macroalgae, causing cascading impacts through entire marine ecosystems,’ he explained.
‘While the range of some species moves north, others simply cannot escape.
‘As ocean temperatures continue to climb, we are rapidly approaching the absolute biological limits of adaptation for many species, threatening biodiversity, fisheries, and coastal food systems.’
There are also consequences for coastal communities across Europe, Professor Friederike Otto, from Imperial College London adds.
She said: ‘Many people and industries depend on the sea not heating up as fast as it is.
‘In our oceans and seas there can be very hard limits for adaptation.
‘The longer we wait with transitioning away from fossil fuels, the higher the price. A price not paid by the rich.’
