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The heat waves of recent days are dangerously affecting the Mediterranean Sea. The animals and plants that live there are at risk of mass mortality.
The Mediterranean is burning. Heat waves are invisible on the surface, but devastating. Jean-Pierre Gattuso is a specialist in marine heat waves. In a buoy are installed temperature sensors that he recovers every day. That day, the temperature is 28.4°C, which is very hot. The Mediterranean is up to 5°C above average. “After each sea heat wave, there are massive mortality phenomena on plants and animals that live on the bottom“, notes the specialist.
A heat record since 1995
Already, in 2022, the Mediterranean experienced an exceptional heat wave of 134 days. The red gorgonians all whitened on the first 30 meters. They are dead and you have to go deep to find survivors. The Mediterranean is not the only one to suffer from the heat wave. From June, abnormal temperatures appeared in the world’s oceans. Today, 44% of them experience sea heat waves – a record since 1995. The scientists themselves are amazed.