Record-breaking sea surface temperatures are being felt around the UK, in the Atlantic Ocean and in oceans across the globe, according to data collected at the Porcupine Abyssal Plain Sustained Observatory (PAP-SO).
The open-ocean observatory in the northeast Atlantic Ocean is operated by the UK’s National Oceanography Centre (NOC), in collaboration with the Met Office.
The mean June sea surface temperature in 2023 (so far, 16.52°C) is more than 1.6°C above the mean between 1982 and 2011 (14.86°C) obtained from the Met Office data set ‘HadISST’ for the site. The rapid warming began around six weeks ago, much earlier in the year than normal.
Dr Jennifer Durden, part of the PAP-SO science team, said, “This is an unusual and concerning rise in temperature for June so far. If the sea surface temperature continues to rise for the rest of the month, the June mean would be even higher than the current estimate.”
Substantial changes in climatic conditions have previously been connected to changes in upper ocean biogeochemistry and plankton, and to the types of seabed organisms measured at the observatory.
Sea surface temperature increases also lead to changes in the atmospheric circulation, impacting European weather. At global scales, changes in ocean temperature affect the ocean circulation, the amount of carbon being sequestered to the deep sea, and the distribution of heat and nutrients in the ocean.
For more on sea surface temperatures, click here.