Sea water around Tenerife is getting warmer, as well as around the other Canary Islands, and it may have significant consequences.
The Plataforma Oceánica de Canarias (PLOCAN) has detected a sustained rise in sea temperatures around the islands, based on data from the Estación de Series Temporales Oceánicas de Canarias (ESTOC). This station is located 112 kilometres north of the archipelago at a depth of 3,610 metres. In 2025, a temperature of 19.7 degrees Celsius was measured, which is above the average of 18.5 °C recorded since 1994.
Technology
According to a statement from the organisation, this infrastructure is part of the European networks EMSO-ERIC and ICOS, and is crucial for long-term monitoring of meteorological and oceanographic parameters in the North Atlantic Ocean.
The station uses advanced technologies in its fixed structure (a deep-sea mooring and a surface buoy) to collect essential data on temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, pH values, pCO2 (partial pressure of carbon dioxide), currents, and pigments.
Average 19.7 °C
A comparative analysis of sea surface temperatures between the average of the North Atlantic Ocean — between the equator and Greenland and from the eastern to the western coasts — and the specific data from ESTOC for the period from February 2024 to March 2025, shows significant patterns for the past year and the first quarter of this year.
The ESTOC station has been recording average temperatures of 18.5 degrees since 1994. However, during the first months of 2024, normally the coldest of the year, higher temperatures were recorded, reaching up to 20 degrees.
In the same period of 2025, the average temperature was 19.7 degrees, again above normal values. These recent figures thus confirm a continuous rise in sea temperature around the Canary Islands.
Variations
Technologist Andrés Cianca of PLOCAN indicated that the measurements from the first months of 2025 point to slightly lower temperatures than in 2024, but still above usual. The data also show a striking cold anomaly in July 2024, when the temperature dropped significantly. Cianca clarified that the ESTOC station shows greater daily variation and is more strongly influenced by local and mesoscale phenomena than the average for the North Atlantic Ocean.
He noted that these phenomena cause variation due to mixing with deeper, colder waters. Nevertheless, the temperature recovered after the event and returned to abnormally high values towards the end of the year.
Warming trend in the region
Cianca also stated that these thermal anomalies are part of a documented warming trend of ocean water in the Canary Islands region, a gradual pattern that has developed over the past decades. This trend aligns with climate projections for the Canary Islands, which foresee a significant temperature increase of up to 4.2 °C by the end of this century in the worst-case scenario, according to the Clivar report.
Finally, the PLOCAN technologist emphasised that these winter temperature anomalies affect the exchange of oxygen and nutrients in the ocean, which decreases. This can influence the growth of phytoplankton and disrupt marine biological cycles, which in turn may have significant consequences for the marine ecosystem.
Guy Devos © Photography
Sea water around Tenerife is getting warmer ©
More NEWS can be read [HERE].
Interested in Tenerife?
Subscribe to our newsletter and always stay informed about the news on Tenerife.
Enter your first name and a valid email address below. Then click on Subscribe.
