German researchers from Federal Office of Maritime Transport and Hydrography, Hamburg, have found that the North Sea's water temperature increased to a record average of 2.4 degrees Celsius in October 2006 compared to the same period between 1963-1993 in the latest climate-change spin-off.
October temperature of North Sea waters averaged 14.2 degrees Celsius (57.6 Fahrenheit) compared to 12 degrees Celsius average calculated for October
from the beginning of the monitoring in 1968, and 1993.
This value is also almost one degree higher than the October water temperature recorded in 2005.
North Sea water temperature increased 4.1 degrees Celsius during a July heat wave and exceptionally warm weather in September and October stopped the sea from dropping back to its normal temperature.
In fact, the North Sea has been suffering a warming trend since 1988, the longest and most intense since sea samples were first tested in 1873.
The warming trend has not been offset by a subsequent cooling event, thus the tendency is of an ongoing warming water.
These climate changes will deeply affect ecosystems in North Sea, and subsequently, will have economical consequences.
Plants and fish native to warmer more southern Atlantic area, such as the Bay of Biscay, may enter the North Sea, while extant species of commercial interest, like code and herring, may be gone.
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