{"id":10467,"date":"2022-09-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mercator-ocean.eu\/marine-heatwaves-mediterranean-summer-2022\/"},"modified":"2022-09-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-09-26T00:00:00","slug":"marine-heatwaves-mediterranean-summer-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mercator-ocean.eu\/fr\/actualites\/marine-heatwaves-mediterranean-summer-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Record-high Marine Heatwaves in the Mediterranean Sea, Summer 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Following a summer of record-breaking heatwaves across Europe, Mercator Ocean International oceanographers have been monitoring their analogue in the ocean. They have examined and analysed the sea surface temperature in the Mediterranean Sea over a series of summers and found this summer to be struck by record-setting marine heatwave events (MHWs), increasing from previous summer in duration, total surface impacted as well as intensity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Marine
Marine heatwaves (MHW) mean intensity in degrees Celsius between May and August 2022. White indicates areas with no marine heatwaves detected during this period. Source: Mercator Ocean International<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Our scientists found MHW events spanning almost continuously the period from May to August 2022, with nearly the entire Mediterranean Sea basin affected \u2013 a unique event never observed before. The three-month average sea surface temperature anomalies for summer 2022 (including June July and August) reached values as high as 4.6\u00b0C locally, outstripping the summer of 2003, which held the previous record high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Number of marine heatwaves (MHWs) between May and August 2022. Source: Mercator Ocean International<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLike the seasonal wildfires that intensify under climate change, marine heatwaves are extreme events that now occur more and more in the Mediterranean and across the ocean, becoming more frequent more intense and more widespread. These need to be followed and forecasted as their consequences, though not as visible as fires, are devastating for the marine environment. We model these episodes through our digital ocean systems, which are key for adaptation to this new extreme that is likely to be more frequent and severe in the future\u201d, says Pierre Bahurel, Director General of Mercator Ocean International (MOi).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In the last couple decades, MHWs have caused damage in marine ecosystems across the globe. This includes impacts on critical foundation species such as corals, seagrasses and kelp as well as even triggering of mass mortality events. Over the period May to August 2022, all waters of the western Mediterranean region were exposed to at least one MHW, an increase that reflects the large-scale patterns of abnormally warm waters that is observed over the whole area in June, July and August. Over the past five years, sea surface temperature has showed strong and consistent warming in the western Mediterranean. The increase in MHW detections is consistent with the increase in average monthly temperatures, which are exceptionally high, over larger areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n