{"id":527370,"date":"2026-07-01T09:50:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T09:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/527370\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T09:50:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T09:50:16","slug":"worlds-oceans-experience-hottest-june-ever-scientists-say-more-heat-ahead-climate-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/527370\/","title":{"rendered":"World\u2019s oceans experience hottest June ever, scientists say more heat ahead | Climate News"},"content":{"rendered":"

European Union monitors say the first half of 2026 was \u2018marked by sustained and exceptional ocean warmth\u2019 and forecast more to come.<\/p>\n

Published On 1 Jul 20261 Jul 2026<\/p>\n

The world\u2019s oceans experienced their \u201cwarmest June ever observed\u201d and could see further record-breaking highs in the months ahead as El Ni\u00f1o and climate change<\/a> push temperatures higher, according to a new report.<\/p>\n

The European Union\u2019s Copernicus Marine Service said on Wednesday that \u201crecord global sea surface temperatures\u201d of 21.0 degrees Celsius (69.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in June beat the previous records in the same month in 2023 and 2024.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe first six months of 2026 were characterised by persistently elevated sea-surface temperatures and widespread marine heatwaves across much of the global ocean,\u201d the EU\u2019s marine environment monitor said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarine heatwaves expanded steadily throughout the period, ultimately affecting around 82 percent of the global ocean,\u201d said Simon van Gennip, lead oceanographer for the Copernicus Marine Service.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mediterranean, the central North Atlantic and the equatorial Pacific all emerged as hotspots, and these regional signals paint a consistent picture of an ocean under sustained thermal stress,\u201d Van Gennip said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The onset of a potentially powerful El Nino<\/a> weather pattern could boost global heat in the oceans and atmosphere even further in 2026, and into next year, according to scientists.<\/p>\n

\u201cCurrent conditions could indicate the beginning of a new phase, leading, once more, to uncharted territory,\u201d said Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, the EU\u2019s climate monitor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith ocean temperatures at these levels and El Nino on the horizon<\/a>, we are likely to see more temperature records fall in the coming months,\u201d Buontempo said in a statement.<\/p>\n

El Nino is marked by unusually warm waters in parts of the Pacific Ocean, releasing more heat into the atmosphere and influencing wind, cloud and weather patterns around the globe. This can raise the risk of weather extremes, ranging from floods in Peru to droughts in parts of Africa and wildfires in Australia.<\/p>\n

Land and sea temperatures reached an all-time high in 2024 at the tail end of the last El Nino, and 2026 could be among the warmest years recorded with the onset of the next El Nino this year.<\/p>\n

The Copernicus report follows a warning issued in a major UN scientific assessment last month, which declared that the world\u2019s oceans were in a \u201cdeepening crisis\u201d as seas were warming and rising faster.<\/p>\n

Oceans are a key regulator of Earth\u2019s climate because they absorb some 90 percent of the excess heat caused by humanity\u2019s release of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide.<\/p>\n

Warmer oceans increase moisture in the atmosphere, providing fuel for tropical cyclones and destructive rainfall.<\/p>\n

Hotter seas also directly contribute to sea-level rise \u2013 water expands when it warms up \u2013 and create unbearable conditions for tropical reefs, whose corals can bleach and die during prolonged marine heatwaves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"European Union monitors say the first half of 2026 was \u2018marked by sustained and exceptional ocean warmth\u2019 and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[255,1668,3229,27666,246,1813,61,60,19144,43,82,2739,224479],"class_list":["post-527370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-africa","tag-asia-pacific","tag-climate","tag-climate-crisis","tag-environment","tag-europe","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latin-america","tag-news","tag-science","tag-us-canada","tag-whats-your-money-worth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}