Warmer water at the seaside might sound nice for your holiday dip, but recent ocean heat in the Mediterranean Sea has been so intense that scientists fear potentially devastating consequences for marine life.

The temperature of the sea surface regularly passed 30C off the coast of Majorca and elsewhere in late June and early July, in places six or seven degrees above usual.

That's probably warmer than your local leisure centre swimming pool.

It has been the western Med's most extreme marine heatwave ever recorded for the time of year, affecting large areas of the sea for weeks on end.

The heat appears to be cooling off, but some species simply struggle to cope with such prolonged and intense warmth, with potential knock-on effects for fish stocks.

To give you some idea of these temperatures, most leisure centre swimming pools are heated to roughly 28C. Competitive swimming pools are slightly cooler at 25-28C, World Aquatics says.

Children's pools are a bit warmer, recommended at 29-31C or 30-32C for babies, according to the Swimming Teachers' Association.

Such balmy temperatures might sound attractive, but they can pose hidden threats. Harmful bacteria and algae can often spread more easily in warmer seawater, which isn't treated with cleaning chemicals like your local pool.

The world’s ice sheets just got a dire prognosis, and coastlines are going to pay the price

Glaciers in Antarctica on February 7, 2022. A new study suggests even if the world meets its climate targets it may not be enough to save the planet's ice sheets. 

The world’s ice sheets are on course for runaway melting, leading to multiple feet of sea level rise and “catastrophic” migration away from coastlines, even if the world pulls off the miraculous and keeps global warming to within 1.5 degrees Celsius, according to new research.

A group of international scientists set out to establish what a “safe limit” of warming would be for the survival of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. They pored over studies that took data from satellites, climate models and evidence from the past, from things like ice cores, deep-sea sediments and even octopus DNA.

Arctic tundra now emits planet-warming pollution, 2024 federal report finds

The Arctic tundra is warming up and that's causing long-frozen ground to melt as well as an increase in wildfires. The region is "now emitting more carbon that it stores, which will worsen climate change impacts," explained NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad in a statement.

Arctic tundra, which has stored carbon for thousands of years, has now become a source of planet-warming pollution. As wildfires increase and hotter temperatures melt long-frozen ground, the region is releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Glaciers are not easy targets for any type of satellite to measure mass loss over time

Scientists have obtained their best satellite assessment yet of the status of the world's glaciers.

Europe's Cryosat satellite tracked the 200,000 or so glaciers on Earth and found they have lost 2,720bn tonnes of ice in 10 years due to climate change.

That's equivalent to losing 2% of their bulk in a decade.

Monitoring how quickly glaciers are changing is important because millions of people rely on them for water and farming.

Amur leopards are one of the most endangered species in the world

Targets to reverse the decline of biodiversity by 2030 may be missed without urgent action, according to a new report.

This goal was a key part of the UN global summit on biodiversity held in December 2022.

Nearly a third of all monitored species are currently endangered due to human activities.