European climate watchdog says ocean temperatures hit record in June
by Paul Godfrey · UPIJuly 1 (UPI) -- Ocean surface temperatures for June hit record highs for the month, the European Union's climate change service said Wednesday, warning that while the rise was anticipated due to El Niño it would have "consequences for both weather patterns, global climate, and marine ecosystems."
In a news release, the broader Earth-system climate-focused Copernicus Climate Change Service and the Copernicus Marine Service, which delivers detailed ocean analyses and forecasts, confirmed respective global sea surface temperature highs of 20.86 degrees Celsius and 21 degrees Celsius.
The new record highs hit on June 21 came in above the previous record peaks of 20.83 degrees and 20.9 degrees Celsius observed in 2023 and 2024 -- said by scientists at the time to be so much higher than expected as to be "terrifying" -- that were linked to blistering heatwaves, flooding and some of the most powerful storms ever recorded.
Those extreme weather events coincided with a "strong" 2023-2024 El Niño.
Calling it an "unprecedented" warming of the global ocean outside of the polar regions, the group's scientists said it reflected both climate change and the start of an El Niño cycle that its array of seasonal forecast models indicated would be strongest in decades by far.
"Current conditions could indicate the beginning of a new phase, leading, once more, to uncharted territory. With ocean temperatures at these levels and El Niño on the horizon, we are likely to see more temperature records fall in the coming months," said Copernicus Climate Change Director Carlo Buontempo.
Copernicus Climate Change Service said higher sea surface temperatures were linked to more frequent and intense marine heat waves, which can also make heat waves over nearby land masses more extreme.
It said it was a waiting game to find out if the excess water temperatures were a temporary phenomenon or a forewarning of conditions in coming months, noting that when sea surface temperatures reached their 2024 high, El Niño conditons were returning to normal after the ocean warming cycle that began in spring of the previous year.
Oceans are seen as providing a more complete view of how human-made warming is impacting the climate, with more than 90% of excess energy, most of it created by burning fossil fuels, absorbed by the oceans, which in turn heat up.
The World Meteorological Organization warned in its State of the Global Climate report in March that the amount of energy in the system was massively out of kilter with the Earth's ability to dissipate it -- which mostly happens by radiating and reflecting heat into space -- resulting in the oceans, land and air being heated to dangerous levels.
Saying the gap between all the heat created by human activity plus natural sources, such as the sun and ocean stores, and Earth's ability to regulate its temperature, more than doubled from the average over the past 20 years to 23 zettajoules in 2025, equivalent to the energy of 11 Hiroshima atomic bombs being added to the ocean every second.
Historic June moments through the years
Troops in landing craft approach Omaha Beach on D-Day in Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944. D-Day was the largest seaborne invasion in history and turned the tide of World War II. Photo by UPI | License Photo