Northwest Mediterranean marine heatwave hit record intensity Monday: institute

A marine heatwave affecting the northwestern Mediterranean broke a record intensity measurement on Monday after a week that saw temperature records tumble in Europe, a Spanish climate institute said.

The area was on average 5.2C hotter than the historical record going back to 1982, Justino Martinez, a researcher at the Barcelona-based Institute of Marine Sciences, told AFP on Tuesday.

"The heatwave... is higher than any other average that we've had before in intensity," he said.