The seas around Ireland and much of Europe are warming beyond what many marine species will be able to tolerate, scientists have said. <\/p>\n
The impact of the heat<\/a> will, they say, be felt in severe disruption to ecosystems but also through the loss of fisheries, damage to coastal tourism<\/a> from algal blooms and unbearable seaside humidity, and a risk to public health<\/a> from elevated bacterial levels. <\/p>\n The warning comes from World Weather Attribution (WWA), a network of scientists providing fast response analysis of extreme weather events. They include Claire Bergin, a researcher at the Icarus Climate Research Centre at Maynooth University<\/a> who explained the significance of the findings. <\/p>\n \u201cWhile warmer waters for swimming may sound appealing to beachgoers in cooler countries like Ireland, the impacts on marine life beneath the surface is more serious,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n \u201cThis has the potential to completely reshape ecosystems that coastal communities rely on for food and income, and drive damaging extreme weather on land too.\u201d <\/p>\n Heatwaves<\/a> have caused havoc on land across Europe this summer with dangerously high temperatures, intense drought and deadly fires. But a marine heatwave is also under way with sea surface temperatures around western and southern Europe recorded at up to six degrees above normal. <\/p>\n Four marine areas were studied over two weeks in July, including the Celtic region that covers Ireland\u2019s Atlantic and southern waters and the Irish Sea. The scientists say the seas are likely to be warmer now as temperatures normally continue rising through August. <\/p>\n Ireland\u2019s waters fared better than the other three regions \u2013 the Bay of Biscay and Atlantic coasts of Spain and Portugal, the Western Mediterranean and the Eastern Mediterranean. <\/p>\n Temperatures around Ireland were on average 1.3 degrees above normal for July, but marine ecologist Prof John Bruno said it took only a one degree rise to harm some species or even cause mass deaths.<\/p>\n