An oceanographer from the ICARUS Climate Unit at Maynooth University says there is currently a marine heatwave in coastal waters to the west and north west of Ireland with temperatures breaking records for the month of June.
Assistant Professor Gerard McCarthy says that while marine heatwaves are not uncommon around Ireland in recent years, they mostly occur later in the year around August or September when sea temperatures are approaching their annual peak.
He says marine heatwaves can have the same impact as those on land as they put ecosystems under stress. But he added, the evidence is not there to directly link convective rainfall events in Ireland, such as the downpour in Tralee this weekend, to a marine heatwave.
Ireland's network of marine buoys are showing sea surface temperatures well above the value recorded this time last year.
The M4 buoy off the north west coast, near Donegal Bay, is showing water temperatures of up to 17.5C in recent days, dipping down to 16.6C at night. This time last year temperatures were peaking at 12.9C and dropping down to 12.6C.
The M6 buoy, which is located 389KM west of Slyne Head is reporting sea surface temperatures between 17.6C and 16.8C over the last two days. Last year on the same dates it reported a temperature range of 13.15C to 12.85C
The M3 buoy located in Atlantic waters off the south west coast is showing a current sea temperature of 17.6C, with value consistently above 17C the last two days. This time last year it was reporting a sea temperature of between 15.5C and 14C
Responding to a query from RTÉ News, the Marine Institute said it does not have the data to hand to decide if there is a marine heatwave at the moment, as the definition of this is a sustained period of temperatures in the 90th percentile above a 30-year (or in some cases 23-year) average.
But it did say that sea surface temperatures as recorded by its network of buoys are unusually high at the moment.
