European Union displays say the primary half of 2026 was ‘marked by sustained and distinctive ocean heat’ and forecast extra to return.
Revealed On 1 Jul 2026
The world’s oceans skilled their “warmest June ever noticed” and will see additional record-breaking highs within the months forward as El Niño and climate change push temperatures larger, based on a brand new report.
The European Union’s Copernicus Marine Service stated on Wednesday that “report international sea floor temperatures” of 21.0 levels Celsius (69.8 levels Fahrenheit) in June beat the earlier information in the identical month in 2023 and 2024.
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“The primary six months of 2026 have been characterised by persistently elevated sea-surface temperatures and widespread marine heatwaves throughout a lot of the worldwide ocean,” the EU’s marine setting monitor stated in a press release.
“Marine heatwaves expanded steadily all through the interval, finally affecting round 82 p.c of the worldwide ocean,” stated Simon van Gennip, lead oceanographer for the Copernicus Marine Service.
“The Mediterranean, the central North Atlantic and the equatorial Pacific all emerged as hotspots, and these regional indicators paint a constant image of an ocean below sustained thermal stress,” Van Gennip stated in a press release.
The onset of a doubtlessly powerful El Nino climate sample might enhance international warmth within the oceans and ambiance even additional in 2026, and into subsequent 12 months, based on scientists.
“Present situations might point out the start of a brand new section, main, as soon as extra, to uncharted territory,” stated Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Local weather Change Service, the EU’s local weather monitor.
“With ocean temperatures at these ranges and El Nino on the horizon, we’re prone to see extra temperature information fall within the coming months,” Buontempo stated in a press release.
El Nino is marked by unusually heat waters in elements of the Pacific Ocean, releasing extra warmth into the ambiance and influencing wind, cloud and climate patterns across the globe. This will increase the chance of climate extremes, starting from floods in Peru to droughts in elements of Africa and wildfires in Australia.
Land and sea temperatures reached an all-time excessive in 2024 on the tail finish of the final El Nino, and 2026 may very well be among the many warmest years recorded with the onset of the following El Nino this 12 months.
The Copernicus report follows a warning issued in a significant UN scientific evaluation final month, which declared that the world’s oceans have been in a “deepening disaster” as seas have been warming and rising quicker.
Oceans are a key regulator of Earth’s local weather as a result of they take in some 90 p.c of the surplus warmth attributable to humanity’s launch of greenhouse gases, akin to carbon dioxide.
Hotter oceans improve moisture within the ambiance, offering gasoline for tropical cyclones and damaging rainfall.
Hotter seas additionally immediately contribute to sea-level rise – water expands when it warms up – and create insufferable situations for tropical reefs, whose corals can bleach and die throughout extended marine heatwaves.
