European coastal waters recorded unprecedented sea surface temperatures in July 2026. A new study has found that human-induced climate change primarily drove the temperature surge, pushing marine ecosystems past their limits. The rapid analysis was conducted by World Weather Attribution (WWA), a global network of researchers who analyze the influence of climate change in extreme weather events. WWA scientists focused their analysis on the warmest 14-day periods within July. They chose this specific time frame because sea surface temperatures normally peak in late summer (August-September). The authors analyzed July to isolate how early-season ocean heat is changing as the planet warms. Across all four regions studied — the Celtic Sea, the Bay of Biscay and Iberian Peninsula (BIP), and the western and eastern Mediterranean — these sea surface temperatures averaged 2.4° Celsius (4.3° Fahrenheit) warmer than historical July baselines. In individual basins, the Celtic Sea was 1.9°C (3.4°F) above normal, while the Eastern Mediterranean was 2°C (3.6°F) hotter than typical July conditions. The WWA report notes these extreme July temperatures would have been “virtually impossible” in a preindustrial climate, which was 1.4°C (2.5°F) cooler, but are “relatively common” in today’s climate. The study’s rapid attribution analysis reveals that burning fossil fuels directly drove this extreme warmth. In both Mediterranean regions, climate change added about 2°C of direct heat. In the Eastern Mediterranean, climate change accounted for the entirety of the 2°C anomaly. In the Celtic Sea and BIP, climate change directly added 1.1-1.4°C (2-2.5°F). “We find that without human-caused global warming, we would expect…This article was originally published on Mongabay

From Conservation news via This RSS Feed.