Human-driven warming fuels unprecedented heat in European seas, scientists warn

A recent study by the World Weather Attribution consortium attributes the summer’s record sea temperatures around Europe chiefly to human-induced climate change, adding roughly 2 °C to the Mediterranean and 1.4 °C to western European seas. The Mediterranean recorded an average of 27 °C in July, the hottest on record, while a buoy off Mallorca logged 33 °C in early August. Researchers found that peak temperatures in the eastern and western Mediterranean, the Bay of Biscay and the Iberian coast would have been "virtually impossible" without anthropogenic warming, and that the Celtic Sea’s extremes would have occurred only once a century in a climate without human influence.

Claire Bergin of Maynooth University warned that such heat could reshape coastal ecosystems and trigger severe weather, while marine ecologist John Bruno highlighted species migrations and the looming biological limits for many organisms. The study also indicated that about 90 % of the Bay of Biscay and 80 % of the western Mediterranean experienced marine heatwave conditions this year, far above the roughly 40 % expected without global warming.