Global surface air temperature averaged 16.96°C (62.53°F) in August 2026, making it the warmest August in ERA5, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) reported on September 10. Extra-polar sea surface temperature (SST) averaged 21.07°C (69.93°F), the dataset’s highest August value, while daily SST reached an ERA5 record of 21.11°C (70.00°F) on August 24 and 25.
The daily average sea surface temperature across the extra-polar global ocean, between 60°S and 60°N, reached 21.1°C (70°F) on August 22, 2026, the highest value in the Copernicus Climate Pulse record beginning in 1979. The reading exceeded the previous daily record of 21.09°C (69.96°F), set in March 2024, and came in August, although temperatures across the domain normally reach their annual maximum in March and April.
Anne O'Carroll, Remote Sensing Scientist at EUMETSAT, talks us through this mesmerizing animation describing a year of sea surface temperature (SST) in 2016. The animation combines satellite data from both the geostationary ring of satellites and polar orbiting…
As Hurricane Irene rumbles through the Atlantic Ocean, it needs fuel to sustain itself. Warm water is the main fuel, and there is plenty of it right now, as there usually is this time of year. The map above shows sea surface temperatures (SST) in the Atlantic…
