Extreme Heat in Mediterranean Sea

Context:

• For several weeks, the Mediterranean area has been grappling with severe heat, resulting in wildfires spanning nine countries from Algeria to Greece.

More about the news:

• At the end of July, Mediterranean Sea surface temperatures hit a record 28.7 degrees Celsius (83.66 Fahrenheit), with some eastern parts of the waters reaching more than 30 C.
• The high temperatures are threatening people and land-based ecosystems as well as causing harm to marine life.

Concerns with high sea temperatures:

• Gasses like oxygen and carbon dioxide dissolve better at colder temperatures. Thus, the warmer the water, the less oxygen is available to breathe.
• Higher temperatures cause an increase in metabolism and the organisms need more food to maintain this metabolic rate and thus, heightening the risk of death by starvation for marine life.
• It contributes to increased occurrences of algal blooms exacerbating the reduction of oxygen levels and generating toxins that are detrimental to fish, marine mammals, and birds, among other organisms.

About the Mediterranean Sea:

• It is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean which  lies between the continents of Eurasia and Africa enclosed almost completely by land.
• The Mediterranean Sea is connected to the Atlantic Ocean by the Strait of Gibraltar on the west and to the Sea of Marmara and Black Sea, by the Dardanelles and the Bosporus respectively, on the east. 

Bordering Countries:

• Europe (from west to east): Spain, France, Monaco, Italy, the island state of Malta, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Turkey, and the island Republic of Cyprus
• Asia (from north to south): Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Israel.
• Africa (from east to west): Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco

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