Maps reveal 'extreme' marine heatwave developing off the British coast
An 'extreme' marine heatwave has developed off the British coast, causing sea temperatures to rocket as alarmed scientists probe 'worrying' warming in the North Atlantic. While the UK is hit by its , water temperatures around some parts of the British Isles have reached 5C above normal for this time of year. These high water temperatures have sparked the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to categorise parts of the North Sea as being in Category 4 Marine Heatwave (Extreme). Scientists have warned that events like this can harm aquatic life that is not used to such high temperatures, potentially causing algal blooms and mass die-offs of some species. It comes after sea temperatures in the North Atlantic rose above previous records in March, and earlier this week were found to be 1C warmer than average. Dr Chloe Brimicombe, a climate scientist and extreme heat researcher at the University of Graz in Austria, told MailOnline the warm blob of water off the UK at the minute is the result of 'local circulation and conditions'. The impact of these heatwaves, which last longer than their on-land counterparts because water cools down more slowly than air, can be devastating. 'Changing sea temperatures in recent years have had a big impact on the ecosystem off of the coast in the UK, effecting how many fishes, plankton and marine creatures there are all the way from small to the largest. 'This specific heatwave could effect our fish stocks in the region, and what fishes are available where, having a long-term effect on the diversity of the ecosystem off of British shores.' Despite Britain seeing its warmest start to June since 1976, with temperatures in some areas of the country nearly 10C above normal, researchers are unconvinced this is what is causing the marine heatwave. Dr Brimicombe said: 'There is a possibility that the marine heatwave and land heatwave are linked, but we need to research that for the UK.' She added: 'Globally sea temperatures are breaking records this year and this is a trend linked to our changing climate. The oceans are our biggest carbon dioxide sink. With carbon dioxide a greenhouse gas being one of the main drivers of climate change and have been heating quicker than anticipated.' According to the (IUCN), these heatwaves can impact kelp forests, seagrass meadows and coral reefs - all of which form the basis for the most diverse marine ecosystems. These warming events have also been linked to animals changing their behaviour, such as whales becoming entangled in fishing nets, while also being connected by scientists to extreme weather events such as thunderstorms. Earlier this month it was found that the North Atlantic has already reached record highs, with an average temperature of 22.7C measure on June 11 being 0.5C above the previous high set in 2010, reports. Francois Lapointe, at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, told the publication: 'It's clearly out of the envelope. While the oceans in the northern hemisphere warm up in the summer, the size of the change this year has caused concern among scientists, with some suggesting a perfect storm of factors - including shifting wind patterns, climate change and the arrival of El Nino - may be behind it. Dr Melissa Lazenby, a lecturer in climate change at the University of Sussex, told the climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions and wind patterns in the atmosphere could be some of the reasons for the anomaly in the North Atlantic. 'There is a blocking high pressure system over the northern parts of the Atlantic in the higher and lower parts of the atmosphere, which is causing the circulation to be different from the typical climatology, which is a low-pressure system in the north Atlantic,' she said. 'The change from a low pressure to a high pressure means the dominating trade winds over the subtropical Atlantic are westerly instead of the normal trade easterly winds. 'This change in wind direction results in more ocean warming over the region.' Professor Michael Mann, from the University of Pennsylvania, said El Nino combined with man-made emissions is a 'major factor' in the warming of the oceans. But he said the anomalous patch of heat in the North Atlantic was most likely caused by a different factor - a lack of dust from the Sahara, which is known to have a cooling effect when blown over the ocean. He wrote: 'One anomaly that's gotten a lot of attention is the North Atlantic, where we see warmth particularly in the eastern tropical/subtropical region of the basin. That appears to be tied to an anomalous dearth of windblown Saharan dust that normally has a cooling impact on the region. 'One would be very hard-pressed to attribute that feature to human-caused warming. Instead it underscores the interplay between human-caused warming and natural variability, the latter being particularly important at these sorts of regional scales.'