Record temperatures are recorded in surface water of the Barents Sea, while the temperatures at the seabed are on average, reports the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research.
Marine biologists participating at the joint Norwegian, Russian Ecosystem Survey have published their first findings showing peak high surface temperatures. The temperatures in the surface water north of Russia’s Kola Peninsula towards the ice-edge have not been warmer since 1951. In some parts as much as five Degrees Celsius.
The scientists link the peak-temperatures with the unusual warm summer in the northernmost parts of mainland Norway and on Russia’s Kola Peninsula. Also the currents from the Atlantic flowing into the Norwegian Sea have been warmer than normal, according to the marine researchers. They have posted several temperature maps of the Barents Sea based on this year’s Ecosystem Survey voyages.
Globally, the Barents Sea is not the only Ocean with record high temperatures this summer. According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), August had record temperatures in sections of the western Pacific Ocean and the south central Indian Ocean. The ice-edge in the northern Barents Sea is at 84 Degrees north, that is 4 Degrees north of Norway’s Svalbard archipelago.
NOAA says August was the 342nd consecutive month with a global atmospheric temperature about the 20th century average.
