At the end of September, the Cabo de Gata buoy in Almeria, a reference point for measuring the temperature in the Andalusian Mediterranean and is integrated into the external network of ports of the Statemeasured 28.61 degrees Celsius on August 21 this year, breaking the absolute temperature record since 2001, when records began.
The measurement, which took place at 1:00 a.m., according to the provisional data from state portsmeans exceeding the figure of 28 degrees for the second consecutive year since records began.
In addition, this brand has exceeds also up to four times during the month of August, and the last two highest were recorded on the 23rd, at 6:00 p.m., with 28.26 degrees, and on the 12th, at 7:00 p.m., with a mark of 28.23.
Gradual increase
Likewise, the highest temperature recorded by this buoy during the year 2023 occurred on August 26, at 4:00 p.m., when the maximum recorded so far of 28.24 degrees in the sea was recorded. which represents an increase of about half a degree -0.38- compared to the maximum temperature reached this year of 28.61 degrees, according to provisional data from State Ports, consulted by Europa Press.
On the other hand, the Cabo de Gata buoy detected a gradual increase in minimum temperatures recorded in recent years. This is reflected in the minimum reached this year on February 27, at 8:00 a.m., with a mark of 14.57 degrees in the Mediterranean Sea, compared to the notch obtained in 2023 on February 18, at 11:00 p.m., with 14.22 degrees -an upward difference of 0.35 degrees-.
This was also reflected in August. gradual increase in minimum temperaturessince this year 2024, on the 6th, at 06:00, 25.69 degrees were reached while the previous year, on the 4th, at 11:00, the minimum mark recorded 23.93, which represents a difference of 1.76 degrees Celsius.
More than one degree in a decade
Over the past ten years, i.e. a period from January 2014 to August 2024, The temperature of the Mediterranean has increased by more than one degreemore precisely at 1.01, and this is reflected in Puertos del Estado when it recorded a maximum of 27.6 degrees in September 2014, while in 2024 the mark is 28.61.
As for the minimums reachedIn February 2014, 14.1 degrees were reached, although a year later, in the same month, the minimum of 13.81 stood out, very far from the 14.57 degrees recorded in February of that year, with a margin of 0.76 degrees in the Mediterranean.
Climate change
For the coordinator of GENA Ecologists in Action, Rafael Yus, the increase in temperatures is “without a doubt” due to climate change. This was stated in statements to Europa Press, when he explained that it had “increased” the average atmospheric temperaturewhich affected both the continent and the sea.
While on the continent the increase in temperatures is resulting in heat waves and a less frequent precipitationIn the sea, it is determined by an increase in temperatures, although “not as brutal as that which occurs on land, because water is a liquid and is also confined,” Yus stressed.
Affected biodiversity
Although it is too early to see The effects of climate change produced in the sea, Yus indicated that “they can already be predicted“In this sense, the increase in temperatures in the sea affects the “oceanic posidonia”, a plant that has a temperature tolerance margin of 24 degrees, while the temperature reached this year in the Mediterranean is 28 degrees.
In addition, Yus pointed out that temperature produces “an acceleration of chemical reactions.” carbon dioxide dissolves in water “at a higher speed”, causing acidification of the water. Consequently, many animals, such as mollusks, are affected because their shells are made of carbonates, which dissolve in water, but “decrease in an acidic environment”.
The same thing happens to other animals, such as crustaceans and some echinoderms, which affects biodiversity, said the organization’s coordinator.
In this situation, far from stopping the temperature increase in the MediterraneanScientists predict that they will continue “to increase until they exceed 30 degrees and cause the loss of many species.”
Mitigation or adaptation
Currently, Yus assured that “we are immersed in the process of climate change” and that there are two options in this regard, mitigation and adaptation. In this way, even if mitigation consists of tmeasuring omas to mitigate the effects of the process, the adaptation is about taking action to face its consequences and constitutes the model “towards which society tends” because mitigation implies “economic and social sacrifices”.
Likewise, the coordinator indicated that the effects will also reach the Mediterranean coast, where erosion phenomena are observed on the coast due to the aggressive storms that have occurred. For this reason, he concluded by explaining that, in parallel with the rise in sea level, “the coasts could even disappear“.
