Paris: During a rare heatwave on Monday, the Mediterranean Sea recorded its highest temperature ever, according to Spanish researchers, who spoke to AFP on Tuesday. Spain's Institute of Marine Sciences, analysing information from the satellites used by the European Earth observation programme Copernicus, declared that "we attained a new record... in the daily median sea surface temperature of the Mediterranean: 28.71C."
"The last record was in August 23, 2003, with a median value of 28.25C," it continued. Copernicus has not yet confirmed these results.
According to a recent report from Copernicus, the world's temperatures at the beginning of June were higher than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, which is the most aggressive limit for global warming set by the 2015 Paris Agreement.
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These temperatures are harmful to marine life. Between 2015 and 2019, 50 species, including corals and mollusks, were wiped out by previous heatwaves.
The Mediterranean region, which experienced record-breaking heat in July, has long been considered a climate change hotspot.
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Since the 1980s, the marine ecosystems in the Mediterranean have undergone a drastic change, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a United Nations body, with a decline in biodiversity and the introduction of several invasive species.
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More than 20% of the fish and invertebrates caught in the Mediterranean could vanish by 2060, according to IPCC experts, if global warming exceeds the 1.5C target