Insights into sea surface temperature variability and the impact of long-term warming on marine heatwaves in the Mediterranean Sea

Denaxa, Dimitra; Korres, Gerasimos; Darmaraki, Sofia; Hatzaki, Maria

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-6-osr9-10-2025

Articles | Volume 6-osr9

https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-6-osr9-10-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Report:

9th edition of the Copernicus Ocean State Report (OSR9)

https://doi.org/10.5194/sp-6-osr9-10-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 6-osr9

30 Sep 2025

| OSR9 | Chapter 3.3

| 30 Sep 2025 | OSR9 | Chapter 3.3

Insights into sea surface temperature variability and the impact of long-term warming on marine heatwaves in the Mediterranean Sea

Dimitra Denaxa, Gerasimos Korres, Sofia Darmaraki, and Maria Hatzaki

Data sets

Mediterranean Sea - High Resolution L4 Sea Surface Temperature Reprocessed E.U. Copernicus Marine Service Information (CMEMS) https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00173

Mediterranean Sea Surface Temperature time series and trend from Observations Reprocessing E.U. Copernicus Marine Service Information (CMEMS) https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00268

Short summary

The Mediterranean Sea experiences a basin-wide increase in sea surface temperature (SST) and extreme SST occurrences. Stronger warming trends are found in the eastern basin, where a decrease in SST variability is also observed. Our findings on the origin of marine heatwave (MHW) trends in the basin suggest that the mean SST warming drives the long-term trends for most MHW properties across the basin, except for mean MHW intensity, where interannual variability emerges as the dominant driver.