Physical oceanography · Copernicus Marine · Argo · EMODnet

Mediterranean Basins

The Mediterranean behaves as eight distinct seas. Choose a measure, and the map shades every basin by it — then zoom in, or click a basin to read it on its own.

21.2 °Cmean sea-surface temperature in 2025, second warmest on record
5,109 mCalypso Deep, Ionian Sea, measured to ±1 m
2.7 psusaltier at the eastern end than the western

Data last reviewed:

Drag to pan · double-click to zoom · click a basin to select it
— —
—
How fast the sea is warming

Yearly sea-surface temperature of the whole Mediterranean, compared with the 1991–2020 average. Every year since 2015 has been warmer than that baseline, and the last three each set a new record.

Source: Copernicus Marine, MEDSEA_OMI_TEMPSAL_sst_area_averaged_anomalies (satellite, reprocessed), annual means of monthly anomalies. The series currently ends in December 2024.

2024 vs normal+1.20°C
Hottest month+1.77°C · Aug 2024
Trend since 1982+0.33°C/dec
Trend 2015–2024+0.88°C/dec
Recent extremes
  • 2022 — record summer heatwave in the western basin; local anomalies up to +4.6 °C, reaching 1,500 m deep.
  • 2023 — intense heatwaves covered 96% of the sea.
  • 2024 — warmest year on record, 21.32 °C mean; 99.8% of the sea hit by at least one heatwave, the most extreme year since 1993.
  • 2025 — second warmest, 21.21 °C; intense heatwaves covered 93% of the sea.

Extremes from Copernicus Ocean State Report 8 and Mercator Ocean annual bulletins. The 2015–2024 trend is a short window and exaggerates the long-run rate; the 43-year trend is the steadier figure.

All eight basins ranked
View the full data table
Selected basin
—
—
Summer—
Winter—
Salinity—
Mean depth—
Max depth—
Area—
The odd thing about it—
Where the data comes from
Copernicus Marine Service Mediterranean Sea Physics Reanalysis — the reference gridded temperature and salinity field. MEDSEA_MULTIYEAR_PHY_006_004 · NEMO + OceanVAR · 1/24° (≈4 km) · 141 depth levels data.marine.copernicus.eu →
Argo float network Profilers diving to 2,000 m every ten days — the in-situ backbone for salinity and warming trends. Argo vs. reanalysis · W. Med / Ionian / Levantine, 2012–2025 Argo vs. reanalysis trends →
EMODnet Bathymetry The European seabed terrain model behind the depth figures. DTM 2022 · 21,937 surveys · 64 providers · 28 countries emodnet.ec.europa.eu →
Mercator Ocean & Copernicus C3S Annual SST bulletins and marine-heatwave monitoring. 2025 mean 21.2 °C, 2nd warmest after 21.3 °C in 2024; intense heatwaves covered 93% of the basin, 3rd widest after 2023 and 2024 2025 Ocean Health Bulletin →
Mediterranean water budget Net evaporation (evaporation minus rain) for the western and eastern basins. West 0.88 mm/day · East 1.52 mm/day · Frontiers in Climate, 2025 Eastern Med water budget →
Natural Earth The coastline drawn here — public-domain vector shorelines, reprojected for this map. ne_50m_land · equirectangular, true scale at 38°N naturalearthdata.com →
Basin monographs Per-basin depth, area, tide, plankton and seasonal figures from the regional literature. Adriatic, Aegean, Tyrrhenian, Ligurian, Alboran, Levantine studies; CIESM; Britannica Britannica →