Trends in sea surface temperature

Trends in sea surface temperature

Trends in sea surface temperature Using satellite observations, we can monitor how sea surface temperature has changed over time. The average sea surface temperature has increased by about 0.6°C over the last 40 years ( 1980 to 2023). To identify long-term trends in temperature we look at the temperature anomalies – how much a given date differs from the long-term average. While there is an increasing trend there is year-to-year variability . This is due to largescale climate patterns like the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Annual mean sea surface temperature anomalies (°C) for 60°S–60°N, relative to the average for the 1991–2020 reference period. Data source: ERA5, ESA SST CCI Analysis v3, ERSSTv5 , HadSST.4.0.1.0, HadSST4.0.1.0 . Credit: C3S/ECMWF . These figures are from the Climate Change Service of Copernicus, the European Union's Earth Observation Programme . For interactive versions of these plots see: https://climate.copernicus.eu/climate-indicators/sea-surface-temperature