V. Chaidez, D. Dreano, S. Agusti, C. M. Duarte, I. Hoteit

Scientific Reports

Published date August 15, 2017

Decadal trends in Red Sea maximum surface temperature

  • States that ocean warming is a major consequence of climate change, the surface of the ocean having warmed by 0.11 °C per decade over the last 50 years
  • States that there is considerable variability in the rates experienced by different ocean regions, so understanding regional trends is important to inform on possible stresses for marine organisms
  • Notes that this is especially true in warm seas where organisms may be already operating in the high end of their thermal tolerance
  • Characterizes the Red Sea’s thermal regimes at the basin scale, with a focus on the spatial distribution and changes over time of sea surface temperature maxima, using remotely sensed sea surface temperature data from 1982 – 2015
  • Finds that the overall rate of warming for the Red Sea is 0.17 ± 0.07 °C per decade, while the northern Red Sea is warming between 0.40 and 0.45 °C per decade, all exceeding the global rate