Symbolic imageWorld's seas hit hottest July on record as El Niño strengthens
The world's seas outside the polar regions were hotter last month than in any July on record, the EU's Copernicus service said on Monday. Scientists link part of the spike to a strengthening El Niño.
Copernicus measured an average sea surface temperature of 20.97C for July, above July 2023's 20.89C, with record warmth and severe marine heatwaves along the Atlantic coast and in the western Mediterranean. Much of the tropical Pacific remains exceptionally warm, and Copernicus expects El Niño conditions there to strengthen in the coming months. NOAA puts the chance at 82 percent that this year's event ranks among the strongest since records began in 1950.
Europe's rivers run low
Western Europe had its hottest June and July on record, 21.62C or 2.79C above average, and wildfires have burnt more than 500,000 hectares in the EU this year. Low flows on the Seine, Rhine and Danube forced two Polish coal-fired plants and Hungary's only nuclear plant, Paks, to shut down last week.
Harvests and food security
The World Food Programme said this week that El Niño could push nearly 49 million more people into acute food insecurity by the end of next year. Australia's wheat harvest is around 25 percent below last year's, and India's monsoon delivered 16 percent less rain by the end of July.
Other opinions
The National in Abu Dhabi frames the record as El Niño-driven, while the Guardian ties Europe's heat to fossil fuel pollution; the FAZ rejects any link between Europe's heatwave and the Pacific phenomenon.