By WILIAM HUNTER, SENIOR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER
Published: 15:15 BST, 24 August 2026 | Updated: 20:30 BST, 24 August 2026
Global ocean temperatures have hit the highest level on record, in a worrying sign that this year’s predicted Super El Niño could bring more extreme weather conditions around the world.
Climatologists confirmed that sea surface temperatures outside of the polar regions reached 21.1C (70F) on August 22.
It broke the previous record set in March 2024, when daily average sea temperatures peaked at 21C (69.9F).
The El Niño system is developing in the tropical Pacific, driving a huge build-up of warm water stretching out towards Oceania.
The weather phenomenon, which was last week described as ‘unprecedented’ in its scale this year, is forecast to bring storms and floods to some parts of the world and drought to others.
El Niño is associated with sea temperatures in the eastern Pacific rising 0.5C above the long-term average. It affects rainfall and average temperatures worldwide.
Experts say the phenomenon is adding further heat to an ocean which has already been warming over many decades due to climate change.
Temperatures are already around 2.6C (4.7F) above the long-term seasonal average, and experts say worse is to come.
Global ocean temperatures have hit their highest daily average ever recorded, reaching 21.1C on August 22
According to the Met Office’s latest predictions, warming in the Pacific could reach 3C (5.4F), while some reports project an increase as high as 4C (7.2F).
The figures from the Copernicus Climate Change Service also mean that August 22 was the hottest August day for the world’s oceans since records began, beating the previous record set in 2023.
Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, said: 'This record is another clear signal of an ocean under growing stress.
'El Niño is adding heat to the system, but it is doing so on top of decades of human-driven warming.'
