Diario Sur - Diario de Málaga. Noticias de Malaga

Sections

Services

Highlight

Delete
Very warm Caribbean-like sea temperatures recorded off the Malaga coastline
Climate

Very warm Caribbean-like sea temperatures recorded off the Malaga coastline

A high of 28.3 degrees was reached on two separate occasions last month

Almudena Nogués

Fuengirola

Wednesday, 4 September 2024, 15:36

Opciones para compartir

The sea off the coast of Malaga is recording Caribbean-like temperatures this summer, new data shows.

A buoy off Malaga city reached 28.3 degrees on two occasions at the end of August, according to the official information on the Puertos de Estado website. This temperature was reached on Wednesday 28 and Friday 30 August at midday.

The record puts the Alboran Sea on a par with the warm waters of the Caribbean, which move between 28 and 30 degrees.

Meanwhile, Fuengirola has broken its own record. According to the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO) its waters have reached the highest sea temperature in the town since records began in 1984. "For the first time in 40 years, 27 degrees has been recorded," the IEO said on 29 August.

Meteorology expert José Luis Escudero said the explanation is simple. "The long summer days and solar radiation, which increases the air temperature and heats up the first centimetres of the upper layer of the ocean." "However, two other factors must be present to square the circle: that there are no continuous episodes of terral or levante storms that disturb the water," he added.

However, the 28.3 degrees this August is still far from the historic maximum recorded by Puertos del Estado, which allows you to look at daily data since 1985 provided by a buoy on the outskirts of the port area in Malaga city. As Escudero pointed out in his blog Tormentas y Rayos, we have to go back to 7 August 2015 at 4pm. That day, the people of Malaga were able to take a warm dip at 29.1 degrees. "On that day, we had several weeks of calm seas with no wind and high temperatures. When it doesn't stir, the surface gets very warm. So as the summer progresses, the water gets warmer and warmer. As long as there are no winds, which bring up colder water, or storms, which also lower the temperature," he said.

By contrast, to find the coldest sea day we have to go back to 25 January 2020, when it was 11.7 degrees. In the summer season, on 8 July 2014 there was a very low temperature of 15.4 degrees. "In Malaga we are very close to the Atlantic, so cold currents come in from that area. This means that in summer our waters are less warm than those of Murcia, Alicante or Barcelona, where last year they reached 30 degrees," he added.

Publicidad

Top 50
  1. 1 This is the programme for the Costa del Sol's 2024 International Torre del Mar Air Show
  2. 2 Torremolinos moves popular German beer festival to the beach this year
  3. 3 Plan approved for more than 3,500 new homes on eastern Costa del Sol
  4. 4 Costa del Sol beach trips for those with reduced mobility: these are the volunteers who make it happen
  5. 5 DNA samples collected to help identify victims from recently discovered mass graves in Campillos
  6. 6

    Are people really going to Mercadona supermarket stores in Spain to pull?
  7. 7 British formation aerobatic team promise to 'surprise' the crowd at Costa del Sol air show
  8. 8 Michelin-starred restaurant chef opens fish festival in home town on the Costa del Sol
  9. 9 Mounting arrival of migrants by boat in Spain puts pressure on Madrid
  10. 10 Malaga village gets ready to celebrate traditional grape harvest

Publicidad

Publicidad

Publicidad

Espacios grises

Reporta un error en esta noticia

* Campos obligatorios

Política de privacidad