• The previous record was set on July 24, 2023, with a daily median temperature of 28.71°C.
• Previous heatwaves have decimated about 50 species, including corals and mollusks.
• The Mediterranean region is a climate change hotspot.

Spanish researchers reported on Friday that the Mediterranean Sea reached its highest temperature on record on Thursday, surpassing the previous record set in July 2023.

“The maximum sea surface temperature record was broken in the Mediterranean Sea yesterday… with a daily median of 28.90C,” Spain’s leading institute of marine sciences said.

The previous record occurred on July 24, 2023, with a median temperature of 28.71°C. Researchers based their preliminary findings on satellite data from the European Union’s Copernicus Earth observation program.

This means that for two consecutive summers, the Mediterranean Sea will have been warmer than during the exceptional heatwave of 2003. During that summer, a daily median temperature of 28.25°C was recorded on August 23, a record that had stood for twenty years.

Such temperatures threaten marine life, as previous heatwaves have decimated about 50 species, including corals and molluscs. The Mediterranean region has long been classified as a climate change hotspot.

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