Record narrowly tops March 2024 daily mark; El Niño still growing
Spurred by a still-growing but already supersized natural El Niño layered on human-caused climate change, the world’s ocean temperatures hit the new mark over the weekend, said Samantha Burgess, Copernicus strategic climate lead. Copernicus said the new high puts stress on life in the water and on land.
“This is yet another sign of our climate system under strain and the ocean under immense pressure,” Burgess said.
Burgess said temperatures are likely to climb further in the months ahead. The new daily reading narrowly surpassed the average record set in March 2024.
Jane Lubchenco, an oceanographer and former chief of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, called the record “very troubling.”
“An ocean this warm destabilizes weather patterns and threatens food security, economic prosperity and marine life,” Lubchenco said in an email. “A warmer ocean is not our friend.”
Burgess said the El Niño was still growing.