Florida's ocean temperature surpassed 100 degrees Fahrenheit, setting a potential record

On Monday, shallow waters off the coast of south Florida reached temperatures of 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius) for several hours, potentially setting a new world record for temperatures more commonly associated with hot tubs.

The measurements were taken at a depth of five feet (1.5 meters) from a single buoy in Manatee Bay, approximately 38 miles (60 kilometers) southwest of Miami.

The temperature peaked at 101.1°F at 6:00 p.m., but remained above 100°F for approximately four hours, according to official data.

Jeff Masters, a meteorologist and former government scientist, tweeted that while there was no official world record for sea surface temperature, a scientific paper published in 2020 found that the previous high may have been 99.7 degrees Fahrenheit, recorded in Kuwait Bay.

Masters added that since the new measurement was taken in close proximity to land, "contamination of the measurement by land effects and organic matter in the water could...render the record invalid."

"Unless there is photographic proof that debris was not present, it would be difficult to (verify) the 101.F record as valid," he added on social media.

Some humans may enjoy sauna-like conditions, but sustained extreme heat is devastating for coral reef ecosystems and the species that rely on them.

It comes days after the non-profit Coral Reef Foundation (CRF) reported that one of the reefs in south Florida that it had been restoring had been destroyed.

"CRF teams visited Sombrero Reef, a restoration site where we have worked for more than a decade. Phanor Montoya-Maya of the organization said in a statement, "What we found was unfathomable: 100 percent coral mortality."

According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, approximately 25 percent of all marine species are found in, on, or near coral reefs, which rivals the biodiversity of tropical rainforests.

During an exceptional heatwave, the Mediterranean Sea reached its highest temperature ever recorded on Monday, Spanish researchers told AFP on Tuesday.

The Mediterranean's daily median sea surface temperature reached a new high of 28.71 degrees Celsius (83.68 degrees Fahrenheit), according to the Institute of Marine Sciences of Spain.

The previous record was set on August 23, 2003 when the average temperature was 82.86F.

NASA climatologist Gavin Schmidt predicts that July 2023 will be the hottest month on record, as well as the hottest in potentially thousands of years.

Last week, he stated, "We are witnessing unprecedented changes all over the world, with records being broken on land and at sea, and the majority of the effects attributable to human-caused climate change."