News

The European Union’s climate monitoring service has declared the hottest ever ocean temperatures for July. The average sea surface temperature outside the polar regions (between 60 degrees north and 60 degrees south) was recorded as 20.96°C (69.73°F), trumping the previous record, set in 2023, of 20.89°C (69.60°F). The news comes as the Copernicus Climate Change Service revealed that last month was the joint second-warmest July on record, with global temperatures (combining surface air and sea temperatures) 1.47°C above the pre-industrial average.

Scientists believe the elevated sea surface temperatures are partly due to El Niño conditions in the Pacific. While sea temperatures in July reached record highs along the Atlantic coast and in the western Mediterranean, the tropical Pacific is seeing exceptionally high temperatures as El Niño conditions develop, likely strengthening in the coming months. Large parts of Europe have recorded extremely low rainfall, soil moisture levels are at historic lows, and river levels are considerably lower than average. Hot and dry conditions are fueling dangerous wildfires across many parts of the world, including France, Spain, Canada and the U.S.

The hottest year ever recorded on Earth and the first calendar year to exceed the 1.5°C warming threshold was 2024. That year, it was actually 1.6°C above the estimate of the pre-industrial level. The 2015 Paris Agreement, the pact to limit global warming to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, also set a goal to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C, as this is seen as a critical tipping point to avoid catastrophic climate consequences.

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