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World's seas warming, Mediterranean quadruples speed, expert says
🇵🇾 Paraguay /Environment & Climate

World's seas warming, Mediterranean quadruples speed, expert says

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News From a news agency Context piece
  • Global seas are warming due to human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, with the Mediterranean heating up significantly faster.
  • The Mediterranean Sea is warming at three to four times the rate of other parts of the planet in some areas.
  • Record-breaking temperatures this summer highlight the accelerating warming trend, with scientists confirming human activity as the cause.

The world's oceans are warming at an alarming rate, a phenomenon directly linked to human-induced global warming and greenhouse gas emissions, according to oceanographer Manuel Vargas. He specifically highlighted that the Mediterranean Sea is heating up at a pace that "in some points triples, even quadruples, the speed at which the temperature is increasing in other parts of the planet."

in some points triples, even quadruples, the speed at which the temperature is increasing in other parts of the planet.

— Manuel VargasOceanographer Manuel Vargas explaining the accelerated warming of the Mediterranean Sea.

Vargas, a researcher at Spain's Institute of Oceanography (IEO-CSIC), admitted that initial projections in the 1980s and 1990s about the Mediterranean becoming a "tropical sea" seemed exaggerated. However, he now confirms that the warming is a stark reality, citing record temperatures this summer. A buoy near Sa Dragonera, southwest of Mallorca, registered 33.02 degrees Celsius, while buoys off the Spanish coast of Malaga recorded 28 degrees Celsius.

are record temperatures, unthinkable thirty years ago.

— Manuel VargasOceanographer Manuel Vargas commenting on the record-breaking sea temperatures recorded this summer.

These figures are "record temperatures, unthinkable thirty years ago," Vargas stated, noting that new records are being broken annually. While intense heatwaves have affected both the Atlantic and Mediterranean areas this year, the warming in the Mediterranean is described as "exceptional." He explained that the quantification of temperature increase in the Mediterranean's surface waters shows a rate three to four times higher than in other global ocean areas.

the planet is retaining energy and it has been quantified that 90% of that energy goes to the oceans.

— Manuel VargasOceanographer Manuel Vargas explaining the energy absorption by the oceans due to global warming.

Scientists have determined that approximately 90% of the excess energy trapped by global warming is absorbed by the oceans. Vargas emphasized that while natural climate cycles exist, the current warming trend "escapes these natural cycles." He concluded with certainty that global warming and the subsequent heating of oceans and seas are "caused by humans," pointing to a clear correlation between measured carbon dioxide emissions and observed temperature increases.

there is no doubt and it can be said unequivocally that global warming and the warming of oceans and seas is caused by humans.

— Manuel VargasOceanographer Manuel Vargas stating the human cause of ocean warming.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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