Climate change is driving record heat in Europe’s seas, scientists say

HOT. People cool off in the Trocadero fountain in front of the Eiffel Tower as temperatures rise in Paris during a heatwave affecting a large part of France, on June 23, 2026.

Abdul Saboor/Reuters

The rising sea temperatures threaten marine ecosystems and coastal communities, potentially reshaping food sources and increasing the frequency of extreme weather events

AT A GLANCE

• Human-caused climate change has led to record-breaking sea temperatures in Europe, with the Mediterranean reaching an average of 27 degrees Celsius in July and an offshore buoy near Mallorca recording 33 degrees Celsius in August.
• The World Weather Attribution group found that the extreme sea temperatures would have been nearly impossible without human-caused climate change, which has raised temperatures by approximately 2 degrees Celsius in the Mediterranean and 1.4 degrees Celsius in Western European seas.

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BRUSSELS, Belgium – Human-caused climate change was the main driver of recent record-breaking sea temperatures around Europe, scientists said on Wednesday, August 19, warning of severe consequences for marine ecosystems and coastal communities.

Europe’s seas have not escaped the extreme heat that many countries have endured this summer. Last month, the average temperature in the Mediterranean was 27 degrees Celsius, the highest for any July on record, while an offshore buoy near Mallorca recorded 33 C in early August.

Human-caused climate change has added about 2 C of warming to the Mediterranean and around 1.4 C to Western European seas, according to an analysis by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group, which uses peer-reviewed methods to assess global warming’s role in extreme weather events.

“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,” said Claire Bergin, a climate scientist at Ireland’s Maynooth University and a co-author of the study.

The analysis found that peak sea temperatures recorded this year in the eastern and western Mediterranean and along the Bay of Biscay and Iberian coast would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change.

In the Celtic Sea, off Britain and Ireland, the most extreme temperatures recorded would have been expected only about once a century in a world without human-caused climate change, it found.

Hotter seas increase humidity and overnight temperatures in coastal areas and can help fuel intense storms later in the year.

Greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels, have raised the planet’s average temperature to around 1.4 C above pre-industrial levels, according to the World Meteorological Organization. This hotter baseline means the high-pressure atmospheric systems that cause heatwaves can reach higher temperatures.

Sea temperature spikes can cause mass die-offs of species such as corals and disrupt food supplies for birds and mammals, with knock-on effects through food chains.

John Bruno, a marine ecologist at the University of North Carolina, said some species were moving north to seek cooler waters, but not all could adapt.

“We are rapidly approaching the absolute biological limits of adaptation for many species,” he said.

According to the WWA analysis, about 90% of the Bay of Biscay and 80% of the western Mediterranean have experienced marine heatwave conditions this year. Without global warming, that figure would have been closer to 40%. – Rappler.com