Sea temperatures impact kelp and seagrass, which support ecosystems around Europe exactly the same way as coral does. Without them, marine diversity will be in danger.
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00:00 Off the southwest coast of Britain, on the surface of the North Atlantic Ocean,
00:04 scientists from the Marine Biological Association
00:07 have been observing alarming sea surface temperatures.
00:11 A constant concern, but this year more than ever.
00:14 At the beginning of the summer, temperatures were up to 5 degrees warmer than the average.
00:19 Sea temperatures are still almost 2 degrees higher than the long-term average.
00:23 And they've been high pretty much all of this year.
00:26 The team hasn't just been observing the temperatures,
00:29 but for over a decade, the kelp in this part of southwest England.
00:33 And earlier this summer, the temperatures were so alarming
00:36 to push the kelp to the limit of what it can cope with.
00:39 And that matters, because it's the foundation of the marine ecosystems that surround Britain.
00:44 A few degrees doesn't sound like very much,
00:47 but from a marine environment which is relatively very thermally stable,
00:52 that could potentially have a huge impact.
00:55 But that's what some of our research is hoping to find out.
00:58 The team has been running experiments on the health of kelp and seagrass,
01:03 both in the sea and in the laboratory,
01:06 to see what's likely to happen if the trend continues.
01:09 Seagrass being examined in current and projected future water temperatures.
01:13 This year in particular, the North Atlantic has been alarmingly warm.
01:17 Ocean warming and marine heatwaves are going to ramp up over the coming years to decades,
01:20 with huge consequences for fisheries, for aquaculture,
01:23 for the conservation of marine ecosystems.
01:25 Kelp and seagrass support ecosystems around Europe exactly the same way as coral does.
01:31 But unlike coral, kelp is found in huge quantities across the globe.
01:36 It does feel like climate Armageddon might be getting a little bit closer,
01:41 and some of the things that we've considered to be almost fantasy and science fiction
01:47 are at risk of happening within our lifetimes.
01:50 Data collated by Copernicus,
01:52 the Earth observation component of the European Union's space programme,
01:56 highlights 2023 as an alarming year in terms of sea surface temperature.
02:01 We've seen examples in the Pacific where we've had die-offs
02:04 and big oxygen low zones associated with the warming.
02:08 And it wouldn't be untrue to say that we may be on the edge of seeing that
02:13 around the UK and European seas as well.
02:17 As temperatures test the foundations of marine ecosystems,
02:21 scientists continue to analyse what's in store in the short term
02:25 and what the oceans could look like for future generations.
02:28 Luke Hanrahan, Euronews, Plymouth.
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