{"id":757463,"date":"2026-06-24T15:58:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T15:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/757463\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T15:58:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T15:58:23","slug":"earths-oceans-hit-record-temperatures-as-el-nino-strengthens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/757463\/","title":{"rendered":"Earth’s oceans hit record temperatures as El Ni\u00f1o strengthens"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earth\u2019s global average sea surface temperature has reached record-breaking high levels over the past week as El Ni\u00f1o gains strength in the tropical Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n

According to the ECMWF\u2019s ERA5 dataset, Earth\u2019s global average sea surface temperature<\/a> reached 20.86\u00b0C on Sunday, June 21. This was the highest value on record for this time of year, beating the 20.83\u00b0C from the same date in 2023 and 2024, which were the two warmest years on record for global ocean temperatures.<\/p>\n

Another highly-regarded dataset from NOAA \u2013 the OISST V2.1 \u2013 registered a global daily sea surface temperature<\/a> of 20.97\u00b0C on June 21. This also beat that dataset\u2019s previous record of 20.92\u00b0C from the same date in 2024.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to note that these near-real-time ocean temperature values are preliminary estimates and may be revised as the data is quality-controlled.<\/p>\n

Why are the oceans so warm?<\/p>\n

Two of the main drivers behind this month\u2019s record-breaking ocean warmth are El Ni\u00f1o and climate change.<\/p>\n

El Ni\u00f1o is associated with a large tongue of abnormally warm water in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. This year\u2019s El Ni\u00f1o was declared earlier this month by NOAA<\/a> and the BoM<\/a> and sea surface temperatures in the central Pacific are currently about 1.7\u00b0C above the 1991-2020 average. This exceptionally warm water is helping push the global average ocean temperature to record high levels.<\/p>\n

\"Global<\/p>\n

Image: Global sea surface temperature anomalies on Sunday, June 21, 2026, according to the NOAA OISST V2.1 dataset. The polar regions shaded in black are excluded when calculating the global average ocean temperature, primarily to exclude areas covered by sea ice.<\/p>\n

In addition to the influence of El Ni\u00f1o, most ocean basins across the globe have been getting warmer in recent decades in response to climate change. According to NOAA, the global ocean average temperature increased by around 0.77\u00b0C from 1970 to 2025, which is about 0.14\u00b0C per decade.<\/p>\n

\"Global<\/p>\n

Image: Global ocean annual average temperature anomalies, relative to the 1901-2000 climate. The trend for the period from 1970 to 2025 is shown, during which time the temperature rose by 0.14\u00b0C per decade. Source: NOAA NCEI, Climate at a Glance \/ NOAAGlobalTemp<\/p>\n

What does this mean for 2027?<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s brewing ocean warmth \u2013 underpinned by El Ni\u00f1o \u2013 is likely to linger beyond the end of 2026 and could push global temperatures, in both the ocean and atmosphere, to new heights in 2027. According to Dr Leon Hermanson<\/a> from the UK Met Office, \u201cthere is an El Ni\u00f1o predicted for the end of 2026, which increases the chances of the following year, 2027, being the next record-breaking year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Earth\u2019s global average sea surface temperature has reached record-breaking high levels over the past week as El Ni\u00f1o…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":757464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,75,128],"class_list":["post-757463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=757463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/757464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=757463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=757463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=757463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}