Local sea temperatures break records

| 22/05/2023 | 38 Comments
Cayman News Service
DoE staff spread antibiotic paste on corals affected by SCTLD

(CNS): Local sea surface temperatures reached new highs this weekend, with Friday going down in the history books as the hottest 19 May since records began, according to figures from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The news comes as officials here begin hosting a series of public meetings to discuss the new draft Climate Change Policy.

Reinforcing the fact that Cayman needs to prepare for the impact of a warming planet, the seas around the Cayman Islands reached almost 30°C, a temperature level never previously recorded this early in the year.

The draft Climate Change Policy examines what needs to be done to address the risks these islands face, especially the impact of sea level rise, which will increase as glaciers melt and as the ocean gets warmer and expands. The rising sea temperatures are tough on our already stressed local coral reefs, which have been hit by stony coral tissue loss disease. Cayman is now under a bleaching watch with more than three months of increasing temperatures still to come.

Although the current forecast is for a below-average Atlantic Hurricane season, there is a great deal of uncertainty this year over storm predictions and how strong the expected El Niño will be. With much warmer than normal sea temperatures in the Eastern and Central Atlantic, as well as locally, the prediction for 14 storms could turn out to be a serious underestimate.

The reality of climate change continues to influence sea and air temperatures, with records constantly being broken. April 2023 saw Earth’s global ocean temperatures hit record highs as the second-warmest for any month on record, according to NOAA scientists. Sea temperatures were 0.86°C above the long-term average last month.

Given the trajectory the planet is on following the collective failure of world leaders to address emissions and the destruction of natural resources as well as the continued loss of biodiversity, it is not surprising that there is a 99% chance that 2023 will be in the top ten hottest years on record by New Year’s Eve. There is a more than 90% chance it will rank among the top five.

From the beginning of February through to the end of April, the average land temperature recorded at Owen Roberts Airport was 81.5°F (27.5°C), which is around 0.6°C above the annual average. But it appears that May will be considerably hotter, given that every day so far this month the weather has hit highs in excess of 87.8°F (31°C).

The draft Climate Change Policy will be the document that helps officials here navigate what is to come. The public discussions on the draft begin on Friday in Cayman Brac, followed by a meeting on Little Cayman on Saturday. Meetings begin on Grand Cayman in West Bay on 6 June and end in North Side on 15 June.

Cayman Islands rising sea temperature, Cayman News Service
click to enlarge

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Category: Climate Change, Marine Environment, Science & Nature

Comments (38)

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  1. Rosemary says:

    While I believe large countries can do much more so can small ones like Cayman. Where are the solar or wind turbines? How about recycling? We all have to work at it. Too many cars period. There is enough blame to go around

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    • Anonymous says:

      We won’t even try remote work to remove thousands of cars from the roadways. No one seems to care. Enjoy the gridlock and the smell of exhausts.

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  2. Anonymous says:

    man’s greed = global warming.. nothing gonna change…man destroying eart and himself all in name of greed!

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  3. Anonymous says:

    Rwanda outlawed plastics 10 years ago in a country with far less money, far more people and recovering from one of the largest disasters ever. It’s simply leadership, look at the leadership here what else is there to say

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  4. Anonymous says:

    I am curious to where the temperature reading was taken. Is this from a NOAA buoy out a sea, or close to shore? Or off some scuba divers computer? TIA

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    • Anonymous says:

      Probably NOAA satellite data ground-truthed by their buoys. (They have a bunch of buoys around the Caribbean/world.)

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      • watcher says:

        Databuoys are nortoriously unreliable for temperature. That is not their primary purpose. Their primary purpose is wave height, and SSTs.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Pretty sure that if we are capable of sticking a thermometer up your rass and getting a reliable reading we can also get a relaible sea water temperature. Back to sleep please, you serve no purpose!

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          • watcher says:

            We were having an adult discussion about weather, cycles and measurement; nobody wants to read about your hobbies. *ew!*

    • watcher says:

      You aren’t allowed to ask those questions. That conscribes you to being a climate “denier”. Asking questions, requiring peer-reviewed science that isn’t entrenched in the IPCC, that’s all baaaaad, m’kay.

      Research on your own to find out the truth. There is no question that human beings screw up the Earth wherever they go. Conservationism is the key.

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  5. Anonymous says:

    Might want to think about elevating the runway at the airport before it’s under water. This should be a lot more pressing than building any new roads or a cruise ship port.

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    • Anonymous says:

      And elevating all buildings. Buying gondolas would be next. From taxi drivers to gondoliers.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Imposing costs on Caymanians to mitigate climate change is nonsensical. Everything comes down to India, China, the US and Brazil. If those four don’t prioritise the environment, we are all doomed.

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    • Anonymous says:

      China coal accounts for 15% of the entire human global carbon emissions. They output more in 20 minutes than Cayman does in a year according to my math (406k tons per year vs 10,432,751,400 tons per year as counted for 2016).

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      • Anonymous says:

        Can you now do the math and work it out and give a per capita comparison on emissions? China is much bigger in size and population compared to Cayman.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Are you really that dumb?

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  7. Anonymous says:

    el nino year?

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  8. Anonymous says:

    Already feels like its August outside and May isn’t even over yet. This summer is going to be brutal!

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  9. Anonymous says:

    I’m all for building more robust and higher to mitigate the possibility of the natural change in climate that happens every 4-500 years.

    But I will never agree to carbon or social credits and controls on my freedom to travel the world or what food I will be able to consume in the form of no meat or dairy, our government has no right to hand over the sovereignty of this country to the #UN2030 agenda.

    These policies being proposed by the Cayman Islands government are tyrannical and will have us locked into boxes with no freedom or proper access to human rights all under the guise of climate change.

    Ban ESG and Jail all involved.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Try using heavy duty aluminum foil for your tin foil hat. Q himself, would approve.

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    • Noname says:

      ESG is a creature of low real interest rates … one these goes away the thinly threaded illusions start to fade and the realisation that the emperor has no cloth becomes apparent … it is that simple.

      As for carbon credits I will let you be the judge on the matter.

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    • Anonymous says:

      what is ESG?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Everyone one else build me something bigger & safer but f*** you all if I’m willing to contribute says the chick waiting for the warm bread. 🤡

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    • Al Catraz says:

      I agee. I’ve been eating dogs for years and I’m not going to let any government tell me I can’t.

    • Anonymous says:

      what human rights??? the proposed IHRs being reviewed for 196 countries including UK (which obviously includes us) to be ruled under the WHO Pandemic Treaty is essentially removing any reference to human rights

  10. Anonymous says:

    We’re hurricane bait if ever one happens to visit. But no worries just grab a long straw a bury your head in the sand, that’s what our illustrious PACT government are planning to do. Climate change is a myth to our leaders and their close supporters.
    If ever the draft Climate Change Policy becomes a sealed can of worms, this administration won’t dare to open it. Instead they might say it’s past it’s sell by date and kick it down the road or else send it to the dump.

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  11. Anonymous says:

    yesterday my depth recorder measured 84.5 degree fareinheit..i was wonering why fishing was so hot! cheezum…

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    • Anonymous says:

      We havent seen a big storm surge in many a moon. With all the historically natural flood plains filled in and the mangroves removed, what could possibly go wrong?

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