Why is the sea surface temperature rising when it usually falls in April?

Meteored UK

Our sea surface temperatures are rising this April, instead of falling like they usually do. We are set to break temperature records but why is this happening?

Transcript

00:00 Did you know that sea surface temperatures tend to decline in April?

00:08 Well this is due to water having a higher heat capacity than air, which means it takes

00:13 longer to heat up and cool down compared to the air above, which in turn creates a seasonal

00:20 lag so it isn't until April that the colder winter temperatures are really seen in the

00:26 ocean.

00:27 This year though, it's not really the case.

00:30 In fact our sea surface temperatures are continuing to get warmer and they've already exceeded

00:34 21 degrees Celsius.

00:36 It actually looks like temperature records could be broken.

00:40 So why is this?

00:41 Well it could be due to the Enso cycle of La Nina and El Nino.

00:46 We've just had three years of La Nina and in La Nina cold water upwells from deep in

00:52 the ocean and brings with it colder than average temperatures.

00:56 Like I said, La Nina has just ended and it looks like El Nino is about to start, which

01:01 is the opposite.

01:02 So it could be that those suppressed temperatures in the La Nina years are going to come roaring

01:08 back.

01:09 This isn't a new phenomenon though, so why is it that this year is bucking the trend?

01:15 Well we don't really know, but what we do know is that a warmer ocean is more concerning.

01:23 [music]

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