Mediterranean Sea Temperature

RichardS

RichardS

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It's almost the middle of August and the Adriatic sea temperature (usually amongst the warmest in the Med) is around 22C. I've never known it this low - it's usually 24 - 26C. SWMBO is refusing to go into the sea and I'm getting worried that she'll demand the Caribbean next year and those flight costs are giving me sleepless nights!

Also, the sea is exceptionally rolly which I think suggests stormy weather recently although at the moment it's 30C and blue sky during the day but plummets to 20C and less at night. We've even broken out the wooly blankets for the first time ever in August.

Are all these things connected?

If this is global warming you can stuff it!

Richard
 
Last year in the South of France we had a similar experience. We hooked up in a bay sheltered from the dying strong easterlies that had been blowing, when we went for a swim, the normally warm water was cold, err, lets get out quick type cold!

After lunch the wind died off completely and the wave action changed, now there was a long swell coming back into the bay, as if the water was 'running back'. I suspect what had happened during the previous 48 hours of F7 -8 winds the top surface of the sea, normally warm had been blown away, to the west. when the wind dropped the sea came back. Unfortunately this was our last day so I cannot say if the following day the water was nearer to normal.

This may well be what happened to you. Maybe.
 
Hi Richard

Just back from three glorious weeks in the Ionian. 35c+ air temperature, not cold at night, sea 25-28c.

It's not that much further south, is it? Still, you had better than those staying in the UK.
 
Just spent a very pleasant weekend on the isle of wight. 24 air temp, 21 sea in Totland bay. Swimming, sunburn, flat sea, 10 knots breeze, no foreigners, decent food and an exchange rare of £1 =£1.

Who needs the Med?
 
SolentBoy said:
Just spent a very pleasant weekend on the isle of wight. 24 air temp, 21 sea in Totland bay. Swimming, sunburn, flat sea, 10 knots breeze, no foreigners, decent food and an exchange rare of £1 =£1.

Who needs the Med?
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Ditto. 3 weeks ago, anchored for 3 days in Newton Creek, absolutely grand. Mind you, if using the farm shop, then pounds don't seem to go so far and the village shop at Shalfleet seemed slightly more expensive than my usual choice of retailer.Just an observation, mind, not a complaint in any way. I'll be heading back soon, thoroughly enjoyed and reccommended.:)
 
RichardS said:
It's almost the middle of August and the Adriatic sea temperature (usually amongst the warmest in the Med) is around 22C. I've never known it this low - it's usually 24 - 26C. SWMBO is refusing to go into the sea and I'm getting worried that she'll demand the Caribbean next year and those flight costs are giving me sleepless nights!

Also, the sea is exceptionally rolly which I think suggests stormy weather recently although at the moment it's 30C and blue sky during the day but plummets to 20C and less at night. We've even broken out the wooly blankets for the first time ever in August.

Are all these things connected?

If this is global warming you can stuff it!

Richard
Click to expand...

End of June in Baie de Carteau normally too cold for swimming until further south, Water Temp was an extremely pleasant 24-26C. Late July taking a few days out to anchor and swim with air temp in low mid 30's the water was a mind/body chilling 19C. We'd had a long lasting Mistral but even so this is a sheltered bay with relatively shallow water and a sandy bottom. Strange eh?
 
Mirror Sea

ZigmundoVanDog said:
Late July taking a few days out to anchor and swim with air temp in low mid 30's the water was a mind/body chilling 19C.
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It's good to know that others are "suffering" as well!

Just to add to the story, SWMBO prodded me awake last night 'cos I'd allegedly nicked very slightly more that exactly 50% of the wooly blanket. I said "can you hear anything". She said "no" so I went on deck to see what was going on.

I was so amazed that I called SWMBO up to have a look and didn't get any abuse!

The sea was absolutely like a mirror. No a single sound even though we're only 100m from the shore. The other dozen boats were all clearly visible in the starlight (no moon) and each had a crystal clear reflection in the sea.

The scene was ghostly and a bit unnerving because I didn't think the waves ever just stopped in an open bay! This morning the sea is rippling again as normal and the waves are lapping.

This is all probably familiar to you old salts but it's a first for me. Maybe this heralds a change in sea temperature??!

Richard
 
Perhaps it is related to the ice shelf breaking off up north and it has flooded the med with cold water. :eek:
 
I noticed a distinct difference between the Aegean and Ionian sides in the past week. A few miles south of Navplion the sea was like a warm bath. No thermometer with me but it was very warm. A few days later at Platarias in the Ionian it was noticeably cooler, not painful but a lot lower than we expected.
 
AntarcticPilot said:
Perhaps a little data might be of interest? There is plenty of Sea Surface Temperature data for the Med; for example, this. SST is gathered from satellite observations on at least a daily basis, so there is plenty of data out there!
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Interesting, thanks.

Is this data that has to be paid for, and is that why it is several months out of date on the publically available display?
 
dmmbruce said:
Interesting, thanks.

Is this data that has to be paid for, and is that why it is several months out of date on the publically available display?
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I just did a quick Google to find this; I would imagine that NOAA would have current SST data. In fact, I was looking for historical data; current data are easier to find (e.g. this! It is a routine product from weather satellites, so it isn't exactly concealed. The product is low resolution (necessarily because of the physics), so don't expect it to show variation in temperature as you go off a beach.
 
The low temperatures don't surprise me, I never believed all that global warming/lets increase "carbon taxes" nonsense, another money-making scam by the greedy maniacs in power, fronted by Al "Carbon-billionaire" Gore, no suprise that those who financed Gore's crusade stood to gain enormous sums of our money from the carbon trading scam. I received a recent message from a representative of these so-called "save the environment" groups still pushing the mythical global warming/carbon taxes in which they included weather data for the last few years. The scam-artists must think we have very short memories and aren't capable of looking out our windows or verifying their data. The weather data they presented claimed we had the warmest global temperatures for many of the months last winter 2009/2010 including October which was very cold all over!!! We can all remember how cold it was last winter and I know that throughout the northern hemisphere it was the coldest winter for many years and in the southern hemisphere temperatures showed no evidence of global warming. Of course those pushing the carbon-taxes agenda have changed their catchphrase from "GLOBAL WARMING" to "CLIMATE CHANGE"!!!

Who collected all the Carbon Tax dollars in the Ice age and who did they blame for melting the ice???

RichardS said:
It's almost the middle of August and the Adriatic sea temperature (usually amongst the warmest in the Med) is around 22C. I've never known it this low - it's usually 24 - 26C. SWMBO is refusing to go into the sea and I'm getting worried that she'll demand the Caribbean next year and those flight costs are giving me sleepless nights!

Also, the sea is exceptionally rolly which I think suggests stormy weather recently although at the moment it's 30C and blue sky during the day but plummets to 20C and less at night. We've even broken out the wooly blankets for the first time ever in August.

Are all these things connected?

If this is global warming you can stuff it!

Richard
Click to expand...
 
SolentBoy said:
Just spent a very pleasant weekend on the isle of wight. 24 air temp, 21 sea in Totland bay. Swimming, sunburn, flat sea, 10 knots breeze, no foreigners, decent food and an exchange rare of £1 =£1.
Click to expand...

And one of the most polluted waters in the world!
BTW what decent food? Fish and chips? Fried bacon and tinned beans? Fake lasagne with tons of garlic?
 
A strange post? The Solent may be crystal clear but it's a long way from one of the most polluted water in the World I'd have thought. As for fake lasagne with tons of garlic, I have no idea how to fake lasagne, but the IOW produces some of the best garlic in the world (it's exported to some pretty serious restaurants in France amongst other places) and has an excellent garlic festival at which you can learn 1001 things you should and shouldn't do with garlic - garlic beer anyone?

You can get good or bad food, fresh or preserved, prepared or unprepared, cooked or uncooked. Fried Bacon and tinned beans, commonly used in Mediterranean stews and salads can be excellent as can fish and chips. Not sure I see the problem here....
 
Have to agree with SolentBoy

We have been swimming most days off Selsey and in the West Country when sailing.

It was a touch cold in May off of the old Coastguard tower on my first swim this year but now its lovely.

I remember trying to make boiler water in the Med at less than 5ppm and failing as the pollution upset the conductivity meter. Sea looked clean but was full of chemicals.

Brian
 
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