HEAT WAVES

Turtles shell-shocked by hot seas heading to Irish shores

- BY LYNNE KELLEHER

MARINE heatwaves have seen sea surface temperatures off Ireland's coast soar to four degrees above average this summer.

Satellite data from the University of Maine's Climate Change Institute shows the eastern North Atlantic has seen some of the most intense and prolonged marine heatwaves.

The higher temperature from Spain right up to Ireland has coincided with the unprecedented arrival of juvenile loggerhead turtles on Irish beaches, with three arriving in the space of a single week in the middle of July.

The global climate analyser model shows the warming began off Cork's coast in May, later spreading northwards along the west coast and up into Donegal. Vast swathes of water surrounding the entire island reached 3°C to 4°C above average.

Waters off West Africa showed little or no warming, while parts of the Northwest Atlantic, including regions off Canada and the eastern US, registered temperatures 4 to 5°C below normal.