Global warming triggers North Sea temperature rise: report
Pastor Dale Morgan
Global warming triggers North Sea temperature rise: report*
BERLIN, Nov 14 (AFP) Nov 14, 2006
The North Sea's water temperature rose to a record average of 2.4
degrees Celsius in October compared to the same period between 1963-1993
in the latest climate-change spinoff, a new German study found Tuesday.
The temperature of North Sea waters in October averaged 14.2 degrees
Celsius (57.6 Fahrenheit) -- or 2.4 degrees higher than the average
calculated for the same month from the beginning of the measurements in
1968, and 1993, according to the study by Germany's Federal Office of
Maritime Transport and Hydrography.
The reading was also almost one degree higher than the last water
temperature record, set last year, according to the Hamburg-based office.
North Sea water rose 4.1 degrees Celsius during a July heatwave in
Germany, and exceptionally warm weather in September and October
prevented the sea from returning to its usual temperature, the study said.
The milder waters are part of a longer North Sea heating trend
registered since 1988 -- the longest and most intense since sea samples
were first tested in 1873.
Nor has the warming trend been offset by a subsequent cooling one,
according to the report, a phenomenon that worries researchers.
Among other potential fallouts, plants and fish native to warmer regions
of the Atlantic Ocean, such as the Bay of Biscay, may migrate to the
North Sea.