Brussels [Belgium], August 19: Human-caused climate change was the main driver of recent record-breaking sea temperatures around Europe, scientists said on Wednesday, 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 (81 degrees Fahrenheit), 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.
Reuters reported that 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.
Source: Emirates News Agency
