While the warming of the Mediterranean Sea worries the scientific world, oceanographer Marie-Laure Grégoire was at Duplex to explain the consequences of the phenomenon.
It’s alarming data: From 1995 to today, the temperature of the Mediterranean Sea has increased by two degrees, a monitor explains. Certainly, what are the consequences of this increase that worries scientists? To answer this, oceanographer Marie-Laure Grégoire was on Duplex at RTL Information at 7 p.m. He first explains the effects on fauna and flora.
“We know that the Mediterranean is a hotspot for global warming. It is warming twice as fast as the world’s oceans. In terms of effects on fauna and flora, there are those associated with the invasion of organisms adapted to higher temperatures. It is a slow phenomenon, but disrupts the ecosystem. And then, along with that, there are ocean heat waves, which are similar to what we observe in the atmosphere, which means extreme warming several degrees above average. There, the effects on living organisms are more severe because these species have not had time to adapt and the differences are so great. (…),” she explains.
Faced with these sudden changes, should people around the Mediterranean expect more violent storms or more extreme weather events? According to the scientist, the answer is yes.
“The past has already shown that these oceanic heat waves create hurricanes, as we observe in the tropics, because we have very warm water with the atmosphere. This very warm water creates updrafts and can therefore form hurricanes with heavy rainfall. It is dangerous: very heavy rains mainly in autumn.“.
However, he notes that France has already faced this type of phenomenon, but unfortunately, they could become more and more violent. “We have already seen such cases in France. In the future, current models show that these types of events will expand in spatial scale and increase in intensity. So yes, unfortunately, most models tend to show an increase in these types of Mediterranean hurricanes“, she concludes.
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