Spain: Surveying the sea

DW (English)

Scientist Josep Pascual from Spain measures the water temperature of the Mediterranean every day. His findings have benefitted scientists and show how dramatically the sea has warmed over the last 50 years.

Transcript

00:00 It's just after dawn, but Josep Pascual is a man on a mission.

00:07 He's heading out to sea. The 73-year-old collects weather data on land and in the water.

00:17 I use these special thermometers that you can lower into the sea.

00:30 After around five minutes, they flip over and display the temperature in the deep.

00:37 Pascual knows all about the sea and how to measure it. For over half a century, the topographer

00:47 and son of a fisher has pursued his hobby off the coast of Lesartit in northeastern

00:53 Spain. Weather permitting, he goes to sea twice a week to document water temperatures

00:58 in the Mediterranean.

01:05 It's my life, my place. It's almost like a drug. Ever since I was little, it's thrilled

01:12 me. Mainly because data like this didn't exist when I was 15 or 20 years old.

01:22 Having reached his first measuring point, Josep lowers one of his devices. It shows

01:29 that at a depth of 30 meters, the water temperature is close to 16 degrees Celsius. Pascual says

01:35 the sea surface has warmed by a full degree since he began taking measurements.

01:42 It's worrying because rising temperatures cause the water to expand, and with it, the

01:51 sea level to rise. We can see this on the beaches, too. Each year they get half a meter

01:58 narrower. I verified it. The beach here has shrunk by 15 meters since 1993.

02:07 Along with the temperature, Pascual measures the water's salt content, providing vital

02:17 info that fishermen like Isaac Moya have come to rely on.

02:24 Our work is closely connected to this data. If we knew a bit more about it all, like he

02:29 does, we'd be better fishers, for sure.

02:36 There are species of fish that can't cope with the rising temperatures. And yet others

02:45 that are used to warmer water now come up north from more southern areas.

02:52 Josep Pascual meticulously notes the coordinates and measurements. Then, at the local tourist

03:00 info office, he transfers the data to a website used by scientists worldwide.

03:08 NASA saw my data in an American trade magazine and compared them to their own findings. They

03:14 said now they know their satellite instruments are working correctly.

03:21 Pascual's collection of years of data has also made an impression in Barcelona. At the

03:27 Institute of Marine Sciences, researchers probe how climate change affects plants and

03:32 animals -- and humans.

03:37 Especially the Arctic is affected, says oceanographer Jordi Salat. But so is the Mediterranean.

03:44 We're observing bigger changes on the water's surface than in other seas around the world.

03:51 There are regions we call "hot spots" and the Mediterranean is one of them.

03:58 Pascual's hobby has grown in importance in this era of climate change, which is why it's

04:04 his mission to keep taking measurements and do his bit to slow down global warming.

04:12 It's painful because it's not a natural process. You can see how everything's changing, how

04:19 we're changing it. Everything's interconnected. Even if only a small part becomes destabilized,

04:31 everything's thrown out of balance.

04:37 Josep Pascual has no children, but hopes to find someone to carry on his legacy. Still,

04:43 he plans to keep going out to sea and conducting his measurements for as long as he can.

04:48 (water splashing)

04:51 (water splashing)

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