Mediterranean marine heat waves threaten Europe storms

World Weather Attribution, a group of scientists, published a report finding that the Mediterranean Sea is heating up twice as fast as the global ocean average. Parts of the Mediterranean and the European Atlantic coast recorded surface temperatures more than 6C above normal in June. The researchers analyzed sea temperatures during the last two weeks of July, finding increases of 1.5C in the Bay of Biscay and western Arabian Peninsula, 2.6C in the Eastern Mediterranean, and 3.1C in the Western Mediterranean. They concluded that man-made global warming was the main driver of these record-high sea temperatures. The warm seas provide added energy to storms, potentially fueling intense storms in Europe later this year. The report also notes that hot seas contribute to land heat waves through a feedback loop, increasing humidity and preventing nighttime cooling. Europe, the world's fastest-warming continent, has already seen an estimated 25,000 deaths this summer from heat waves, with impacts on commodity supplies, critical infrastructure, and energy security. The extreme marine heat waves are expected to be 1.3C to 1.9C hotter by the end of the century at the current pace of warming.