North Sea hits record average temperature
2025 was the warmest year ever recorded in the North Sea, the German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) has announced. The average temperature was 11.6° Celsius, the highest value since the agency began collecting data in 1969.
Last year was also almost a record for the Baltic. According to BSH measurements, the average annual temperature last year was 9.7° Celsius, or 1.1° higher than the average for the period 1997-2021. That makes 2025 the second warmest year for the Baltic Sea since the BSH data series began in 1990. Only 2020 saw a higher average.
BSH president Helge Heegewaldt used the publication of the data to once again warn of the consequences of climate change.
“Even if we were to stop global greenhouse gas emissions immediately, sea levels would probably continue to rise for centuries,” he said, stressing the importance of doing “more to protect the climate”.
The warming of the North and Baltic Seas is part of the broader context of warming seas around the world as a result of climate change. According to the UN climate panel IPCC, the rate at which the oceans are warming has more than doubled since 1993.
A lifeguard at the traditional New Year's dip in the North Sea in Ostend, 3 January 2026 © BELGA PHOTO KURT DESPLENTER
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