The North Atlantic is breaking heat records. Why so? Let’s understand the reasons.

In a few parts of the Atlantic Ocean, the sea-surface temperatures in the last few weeks have increased like never before, touching record heights.

From the northwestern coast of Africa to the Atlantic westward, this atypical warming is taking place in an extensive stretch. As revealed by satellite data, some surface waters in the region are approximately 4 degrees Celsius above the normal standard for this time of the year. This has been said by a meteorologist at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla, Brian McNoldy. 

The expert says that since March, there’s been a record-breaking warmth, however, the heat is even more now.

The average sea-surface temperature from the Atlantic region that stretches 60 degrees north from the equator to southern Greenland, southern Norway, and the central region of Canada’s Hudson Bay was nearly 73 degrees Fahrenheit (22.7 degrees C) on June 10. This is around 1 degree C greater than the average temperature recorded from the year 1991 to 2020. In the year 2010, the previous record for the same date, i.e. on June 10, was 22.1 degrees C.

While the specific reasons for the warm-up aren’t clear, the following may be the contributing factors.

Decreased air pollution

There is a possibility that less pollution could have led to more heating. With lesser pollution, more radiation may reach the surface of the sea.

Sahara Dust

A substantial swath of desert dust from the Sahara is flying across the sea. 

These dust swaths are brought by winds that are brought up by a high-pressure system that is semi-permanent and is known as "Azores high", because of its closeness to the islands. 

However, recently, the Azore's high has become less impactful and switched to the southwest away from Africa. Thus, the winds that generally pick up and transmit Saharan dust to the westward direction over the North Atlantic are actually weaker and mostly dust free, as per a University of Pennsylvania climate scientist. 

Thus, solar radiation that generally would be spread back into space through dust reaches the surface of the ocean, thereby heating the dark waters. 

In case the trade winds get more power, excessive dust from Africa can and in somewhere cooling the region. 

Global warming trends

The return of El Nino this year could be a reason for the heating up of the seas.

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