AP: July was the hottest the world's oceans have been in almost 130 years of record-keeping. The Average water temperature worldwide was 62.6 degrees [17C], according to the National Climatic Data Center, the branch of the US government that keeps world weather records. June was only slightly cooler, while August could set another record, scientists say. The previous record was set in July 1998 during a powerful El Niño weather pattern.
Meteorologists said there's a combination of forces at work: A natural El Niño system just getting started on top of worsening man-made global warming, and a dash of random weather variations. The resulting ocean heat is already harming threatened coral reefs. It could also hasten the melting of Arctic sea ice and help hurricanes strengthen.
The Gulf of Mexico, where warm water fuels hurricanes, has temperatures dancing around 90 [32C]. Most of the water in the Northern Hemisphere has been considerably warmer than normal. The Mediterranean is about three degrees [F] warmer than normal. Higher temperatures rule in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
The heat is most noticeable near the Arctic, where water temperatures are as much as 10 degrees [F] above average. The tongue of warm water could help melt sea ice from below and even cause thawing of ice sheets in Greenland...
Breaking heat records in water is more ominous as a sign of global warming than breaking temperature marks on land, because water takes longer to heat up and does not cool off as easily as land... Water is warming in more places than usual, something that has not been seen in more than 50 years...
Long-term excessive heat bleaches colorful coral reefs white and sometimes kills them. Bleaching has started to crop up in the Florida Keys, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands -- much earlier than usual... Experts are 'bracing for another bad year.'
