Heatwave coincided with blistering temperatures at end of June
An ocean buoy deployed off Faro recorded sea surface temperatures ‘significantly higher’ than the average of the last 20 years, indicating a ‘marine heatwave’, the National Maritime Authority (AMN) has said today.
“These figures indicate the occurrence of an extreme phenomenon called a “marine heatwave”,” reads the AMN statement.
Between Saturday June 28 and Wednesday July 9, the Faro Coast buoy – part of the Hydrographic Institute’s national ocean monitoring network (MONIZEE) – recorded sea surface temperatures “significantly higher than the average of the last 20 years”, reaching 25.1ºC.
A ‘marine heatwave’ is considered to be when the daily sea temperature exceeds, for at least five consecutive days, a high statistical limit, called the 90th percentile of the average temperature for that region and time of year.
According to AMN- the authority responsible for the safety and control of navigation and the preservation and protection of natural resources – this means that the temperatures observed in Faro during the period in question are “among the 10% highest of any recorded in the last two decades”.
‘In this case, the daily seawater temperature recorded in Faro exceeded the 90th percentile by more than 5°C – corresponding to the category of marine heatwave considered ‘extreme’, concludes AMN.
The average temperature was determined from records collected in Faro since 2004.
source: LUSA
