'''DEFINITION''' Meridional Heat Transport is computed by integrating the heat fluxes along the zonal direction and from top to bottom of the ocean. They are given over 3 basins (Global Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and Indian+Pacific Ocean) and for all the grid points in the meridional grid of each basin. The mean value over a reference period (1993-2014) and over the last full year are provided for the ensemble product and the individual reanalysis, as well as the standard deviation for the ensemble product over the reference period (1993-2014). The values are given in PetaWatt (PW). '''CONTEXT''' The ocean transports heat and mass by vertical overturning and horizontal circulation, and is one of the fundamental dynamic components of the Earth’s energy budget (IPCC, 2013). There are spatial asymmetries in the energy budget resulting from the Earth’s orientation to the sun and the meridional variation in absorbed radiation which support a transfer of energy from the tropics towards the poles. However, there are spatial variations in the loss of heat by the ocean through sensible and latent heat fluxes, as well as differences in ocean basin geometry and current systems. These complexities support a pattern of oceanic heat transport that is not strictly from lower to high latitudes. Moreover, it is not stationary and we are only beginning to unravel its variability. '''CMEMS KEY FINDINGS''' After an anusual 2016 year (Bricaud 2016), with a higher global meridional heat transport in the tropical band explained by, the increase of northward heat transport at 5-10 ° N in the Pacific Ocean during the El Niño event, 2017 northward heat transport is lower than the 1993-2014 reference value in the tropical band, for both Atlantic and Indian + Pacific Oceans. At the higher latitudes, 2017 northward heat transport is closed to 1993-2014 values. Note: The key findings will be updated annually in November, in line with OMI evolutions. '''DOI (product):''' https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00246

'''DEFINITION''' The temporal evolution of thermosteric sea level in an ocean layer is obtained from an integration of temperature driven ocean density variations, which are subtracted from a reference climatology to obtain the fluctuations from an average field. The regional thermosteric sea level values are then averaged from 60°S-60°N aiming to monitor interannual to long term global sea level variations caused by temperature driven ocean volume changes through thermal expansion as expressed in meters (m). '''CONTEXT''' The global mean sea level is reflecting changes in the Earth’s climate system in response to natural and anthropogenic forcing factors such as ocean warming, land ice mass loss and changes in water storage in continental river basins. Thermosteric sea-level variations result from temperature related density changes in sea water associated with volume expansion and contraction. Global thermosteric sea level rise caused by ocean warming is known as one of the major drivers of contemporary global mean sea level rise (Cazenave et al., 2018; Oppenheimer et al., 2019). '''CMEMS KEY FINDINGS''' Since the year 2005 the upper (0-700m) near-global (60°S-60°N) thermosteric sea level rises at a rate of 0.9±0.1 mm/year. Note: The key findings will be updated annually in November, in line with OMI evolutions. '''DOI (product):''' https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00239

'''DEFINITION''' Volume transport across lines are obtained by integrating the volume fluxes along some selected sections and from top to bottom of the ocean. The values are computed from models’ daily output. The mean value over a reference period (1993-2014) and over the last full year are provided for the ensemble product and the individual reanalysis, as well as the standard deviation for the ensemble product over the reference period (1993-2014). The values are given in Sverdrup (Sv). '''CONTEXT''' The ocean transports heat and mass by vertical overturning and horizontal circulation, and is one of the fundamental dynamic components of the Earth’s energy budget (IPCC, 2013). There are spatial asymmetries in the energy budget resulting from the Earth’s orientation to the sun and the meridional variation in absorbed radiation which support a transfer of energy from the tropics towards the poles. However, there are spatial variations in the loss of heat by the ocean through sensible and latent heat fluxes, as well as differences in ocean basin geometry and current systems. These complexities support a pattern of oceanic heat transport that is not strictly from lower to high latitudes. Moreover, it is not stationary and we are only beginning to unravel its variability. '''CMEMS KEY FINDINGS''' The mean transports estimated by the ensemble global reanalysis are comparable to estimates based on observations; the uncertainties on these integrated quantities are still large in all the available products. At Drake Passage, the multi-product approach (product no. 2.4.1) is larger than the value (130 Sv) of Lumpkin and Speer (2007), but smaller than the new observational based results of Colin de Verdière and Ollitrault, (2016) (175 Sv) and Donohue (2017) (173.3 Sv). Note: The key findings will be updated annually in November, in line with OMI evolutions. '''DOI (product):''' https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00247

'''DEFINITION''' The OMI_EXTREME_SST_MEDSEA_sst_mean_and_anomaly_obs indicator is based on the computation of the 99th and the 1st percentiles from in situ data (observations). It is computed for the variable sea surface temperature measured by in situ buoys at depths between 0 and 5 meters. The use of percentiles instead of annual maximum and minimum values, makes this extremes study less affected by individual data measurement errors. The percentiles are temporally averaged, and the spatial evolution is displayed, jointly with the anomaly in the target year. This study of extreme variability was first applied to sea level variable (Pérez Gómez et al 2016) and then extended to other essential variables, sea surface temperature and significant wave height (Pérez Gómez et al 2018). '''CONTEXT''' Sea surface temperature (SST) is one of the essential ocean variables affected by climate change (mean SST trends, SST spatial and interannual variability, and extreme events). In Europe, several studies show warming trends in mean SST for the last years (von Schuckmann et al., 2016; IPCC, 2021, 2022). An exception seems to be the North Atlantic, where, in contrast, anomalous cold conditions have been observed since 2014 (Mulet et al., 2018; Dubois et al. 2018; IPCC 2021, 2022). Extremes may have a stronger direct influence in population dynamics and biodiversity. According to Alexander et al. 2018 the observed warming trend will continue during the 21st Century and this can result in exceptionally large warm extremes. Monitoring the evolution of sea surface temperature extremes is, therefore, crucial. The Mediterranean Sea has showed a constant increase of the SST in the last three decades across the whole basin with more frequent and severe heat waves (Juza et al., 2022). Deep analyses of the variations have displayed a non-uniform rate in space, being the warming trend more evident in the eastern Mediterranean Sea with respect to the western side. This variation rate is also changing in time over the three decades with differences between the seasons (e.g. Pastor et al. 2018; Pisano et al. 2020), being higher in Spring and Summer, which would affect the extreme values. '''COPERNICUS MARINE SERVICE KEY FINDINGS''' The mean 99th percentiles showed in the area present values from 25ºC in Ionian Sea and 26º in the Alboran sea and Gulf of Lion to 27ºC in the East of Iberian Peninsula. The standard deviation ranges from 0.6ºC to 1.2ºC in the Western Mediterranean and is around 2.2ºC in the Ionian Sea. Results for this year show a slight negative anomaly in the Ionian Sea (-1ºC) inside the standard deviation and a clear positive anomaly in the Western Mediterranean Sea reaching +2.2ºC, almost two times the standard deviation in the area. '''DOI (product):''' https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00267

'''DEFINITION''' The OMI_EXTREME_SST_NORTHWESTSHELF_sst_mean_and_anomaly_obs indicator is based on the computation of the 99th and the 1st percentiles from in situ data (observations). It is computed for the variable sea surface temperature measured by in situ buoys at depths between 0 and 5 meters. The use of percentiles instead of annual maximum and minimum values, makes this extremes study less affected by individual data measurement errors. The percentiles are temporally averaged, and the spatial evolution is displayed, jointly with the anomaly in the target year. This study of extreme variability was first applied to sea level variable (Pérez Gómez et al 2016) and then extended to other essential variables, sea surface temperature and significant wave height (Pérez Gómez et al 2018). '''CONTEXT''' Sea surface temperature (SST) is one of the essential ocean variables affected by climate change (mean SST trends, SST spatial and interannual variability, and extreme events). In Europe, several studies show warming trends in mean SST for the last years (von Schuckmann, 2016; IPCC, 2021, 2022). An exception seems to be the North Atlantic, where, in contrast, anomalous cold conditions have been observed since 2014 (Mulet et al., 2018; Dubois et al. 2018; IPCC 2021, 2022). Extremes may have a stronger direct influence in population dynamics and biodiversity. According to Alexander et al. 2018 the observed warming trend will continue during the 21st Century and this can result in exceptionally large warm extremes. Monitoring the evolution of sea surface temperature extremes is, therefore, crucial. The North-West Self area comprises part of the North Atlantic, where this refreshing trend has been observed, and the North Sea, where a warming trend has been taking place in the last three decades (e.g. Høyer and Karagali, 2016). '''COPERNICUS MARINE SERVICE KEY FINDINGS''' The mean 99th percentiles showed in the area present a range from 14-16ºC in the North of the British Isles, 16-19ºC in the Southwest of the North Sea to 19-21ºC around Denmark (Helgoland Bight, Skagerrak and Kattegat Seas). The standard deviation ranges from 0.5-1ºC in the North of the British Isles, 0.5-2ºC in the Southwest of the North Sea to 1-3ºC in the buoys around Denmark. Results for this year show either positive or negative low anomalies around their corresponding standard deviation in in the North of the British Isles (-0.5/+0.6ºC) and a clear positive anomaly in the other two areas reaching +2ºC even when they are around the standard deviation margin. '''DOI (product):''' https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00274

'''This product has been archived'''                For operationnal and online products, please visit https://marine.copernicus.eu '''DEFINITION''' The indicator of the Kuroshio extension phase variations is based on the standardized high frequency altimeter Eddy Kinetic Energy (EKE) averaged in the area 142-149°E and 32-37°N and computed from the DUACS (https://duacs.cls.fr) delayed-time (reprocessed version DT-2021, CMEMS SEALEVEL_GLO_PHY_L4_MY_008_047) and near real-time (CMEMS SEALEVEL_GLO_PHY_L4_NRT_OBSERVATIONS_008_046) altimeter sea level gridded products. The change in the reprocessed version (previously DT-2018) and the extension of the mean value of the EKE (now 27 years, previously 20 years) induce some slight changes not impacting the general variability of the Kuroshio extension (correlation coefficient of 0.988 for the total period, 0.994 for the delayed time period only). '''CONTEXT''' The long-term mean and trends alone do not give a complete view of the likely changes in position of unstable western boundary current extensions (Kelly et al., 2010). The Kuroshio Extension is an eastward-flowing current in the subtropical western North Pacific after the Kuroshio separates from the coast of Japan at 35°N, 140°E. Being the extension of a wind-driven western boundary current, the Kuroshio Extension is characterized by a strong variability and is rich in large-amplitude meanders and energetic eddies (Niiler et al., 2003; Qiu, 2003, 2002). The Kuroshio Extension region has the largest sea surface height variability on sub-annual and decadal time scales in the extratropical North Pacific Ocean (Jayne et al., 2009; Qiu and Chen, 2010, 2005). Prediction and monitoring of the path of the Kuroshio are of huge importance for local economies as the position of the Kuroshio extension strongly determines the regions where phytoplankton and hence fish are located. '''CMEMS KEY FINDINGS''' The different states of the Kuroshio extension phase have been presented and validated by Bessières et al. (2013) and further reported by Drévillon et al. (2018) in the Copernicus Ocean State Report #2. Two rather different states of the Kuroshio extension are observed: an ‘elongated state’ (also called ‘strong state’) corresponding to a narrow strong steady jet, and a ‘contracted state’ (also called ‘weak state’) in which the jet is weaker and more unsteady, spreading on a wider latitudinal band. When the Kuroshio Extension jet is in a contracted (elongated) state, the upstream Kuroshio Extension path tends to become more (less) variable and regional eddy kinetic energy level tends to be higher (lower). In between these two opposite phases, the Kuroshio extension jet has many intermediate states of transition and presents either progressively weakening or strengthening trends. In 2018, the indicator reveals an elongated state followed by a weakening neutral phase since then. '''DOI (product):''' https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00222

'''DEFINITION''' The OMI_EXTREME_WAVE_NORTHWESTSHELF_swh_mean_and_anomaly_obs indicator is based on the computation of the 99th and the 1st percentiles from in situ data (observations). It is computed for the variable significant wave height (swh) measured by in situ buoys. The use of percentiles instead of annual maximum and minimum values, makes this extremes study less affected by individual data measurement errors. The percentiles are temporally averaged, and the spatial evolution is displayed, jointly with the anomaly in the target year. This study of extreme variability was first applied to sea level variable (Pérez Gómez et al 2016) and then extended to other essential variables, sea surface temperature and significant wave height (Pérez Gómez et al 2018). '''CONTEXT''' Projections on Climate Change foresee a future with a greater frequency of extreme sea states (Stott, 2016; Mitchell, 2006). The damages caused by severe wave storms can be considerable not only in infrastructure and buildings but also in the natural habitat, crops and ecosystems affected by erosion and flooding aggravated by the extreme wave heights. In addition, wave storms strongly hamper the maritime activities, especially in harbours. These extreme phenomena drive complex hydrodynamic processes, whose understanding is paramount for proper infrastructure management, design and maintenance (Goda, 2010). In recent years, there have been several studies searching possible trends in wave conditions focusing on both mean and extreme values of significant wave height using a multi-source approach with model reanalysis information with high variability in the time coverage, satellite altimeter records covering the last 30 years and in situ buoy measured data since the 1980s decade but with sparse information and gaps in the time series (e.g. Dodet et al., 2020; Timmermans et al., 2020; Young & Ribal, 2019). These studies highlight a remarkable interannual, seasonal and spatial variability of wave conditions and suggest that the possible observed trends are not clearly associated with anthropogenic forcing (Hochet et al. 2021, 2023). In the North Atlantic, the mean wave height shows some weak trends not very statistically significant. Young & Ribal (2019) found a mostly positive weak trend in the European Coasts while Timmermans et al. (2020) showed a weak negative trend in high latitudes, including the North Sea and even more intense in the Norwegian Sea. For extreme values, some authors have found a clearer positive trend in high percentiles (90th-99th) (Young et al., 2011; Young & Ribal, 2019). '''COPERNICUS MARINE SERVICE KEY FINDINGS''' The mean 99th percentiles showed in the area present a wide range from 2.5 meters in the English Channel with 0.3m of standard deviation (std), 3-5m in the southern and central North Sea with 0.3-0.6m of std, 4 meters in the Skagerrak Strait with 0.6m of std, 7.5m in the northern North Sea with 0.6m of std to 8 meters in the North of the British Isles with 0.6m of std. Results for this year show either low positive or negative anomalies between -0.6m and +0.4m, inside the margin of the standard deviation for all the stations. '''DOI (product):''' https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00270

'''DEFINITION''' Estimates of Arctic sea ice extent are obtained from the surface of oceans grid cells that have at least 15% sea ice concentration. These values are cumulated in the entire Northern Hemisphere (excluding ice lakes) and from 1993 up to the year 2019 aiming to: i) obtain the Arctic sea ice extent as expressed in millions of km square (106 km2) to monitor both the large-scale variability and mean state and change. ii) to monitor the change in sea ice extent as expressed in millions of km squared per decade (106 km2/decade), or in sea ice extent loss since the beginning of the time series as expressed in percent per decade (%/decade; reference period being the first date of the key figure b) dot-dashed trend line, Vaughan et al., 2013). These trends are calculated in three ways, i.e. (i) from the annual mean values; (ii) from the March values (winter ice loss); (iii) from September values (summer ice loss). The Arctic sea ice extent used here is based on the “multi-product” (GLOBAL_MULTIYEAR_PHY_ENS_001_031) approach as introduced in the second issue of the Ocean State Report (CMEMS OSR, 2017). Five global products have been used to build the ensemble mean, and its associated ensemble spread. '''CONTEXT''' Sea ice is frozen seawater that floats on the ocean surface. This large blanket of millions of square kilometers insulates the relatively warm ocean waters from the cold polar atmosphere. The seasonal cycle of the sea ice, forming and melting with the polar seasons, impacts both human activities and biological habitat. Knowing how and how much the sea ice cover is changing is essential for monitoring the health of the Earth as sea ice is one of the highest sensitive natural environments. Variations in sea ice cover can induce changes in ocean stratification, in global and regional sea level rates and modify the key rule played by the cold poles in the Earth engine (IPCC, 2019). The sea ice cover is monitored here in terms of sea ice extent quantity. More details and full scientific evaluations can be found in the CMEMS Ocean State Report (Samuelsen et al., 2016; Samuelsen et al., 2018). '''CMEMS KEY FINDINGS''' Since the year 1993 to 2023 the Arctic sea ice extent has decreased significantly at an annual rate of -0.57*106 km2 per decade. This represents an amount of -4.8 % per decade of Arctic sea ice extent loss over the period 1993 to 2023. Over the period 1993 to 2018, summer (September) sea ice extent loss amounts to -1.18*106 km2/decade (September values), which corresponds to -14.85% per decade. Winter (March) sea ice extent loss amounts to -0.57*106 km2/decade, which corresponds to -3.42% per decade. These values slightly exceed the estimates given in the AR5 IPCC assessment report (estimate up to the year 2012) as a consequence of continuing Northern Hemisphere sea ice extent loss. Main change in the mean seasonal cycle is characterized by less and less presence of sea ice during summertime with time. Note: The key findings will be updated annually in November, in line with OMI evolutions. '''DOI (product):''' https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00190

'''DEFINITION''' The temporal evolution of thermosteric sea level in an ocean layer is obtained from an integration of temperature driven ocean density variations, which are subtracted from a reference climatology to obtain the fluctuations from an average field. The regional thermosteric sea level values are then averaged from 60°S-60°N aiming to monitor interannual to long term global sea level variations caused by temperature driven ocean volume changes through thermal expansion as expressed in meters (m). '''CONTEXT''' Most of the interannual variability and trends in regional sea level is caused by changes in steric sea level. At mid and low latitudes, the steric sea level signal is essentially due to temperature changes, i.e. the thermosteric effect (Stammer et al., 2013, Meyssignac et al., 2016). Salinity changes play only a local role. Regional trends of thermosteric sea level can be significantly larger compared to their globally averaged versions (Storto et al., 2018). Except for shallow shelf sea and high latitudes (> 60° latitude), regional thermosteric sea level variations are mostly related to ocean circulation changes, in particular in the tropics where the sea level variations and trends are the most intense over the last two decades. '''CMEMS KEY FINDINGS''' Significant (i.e. when the signal exceeds the noise) regional trends for the period 2005-2019 from the Copernicus Marine Service multi-ensemble approach show a thermosteric sea level rise at rates ranging from the global mean average up to more than 8 mm/year. There are specific regions where a negative trend is observed above noise at rates up to about -8 mm/year such as in the subpolar North Atlantic, or the western tropical Pacific. These areas are characterized by strong year-to-year variability (Dubois et al., 2018; Capotondi et al., 2020). Note: The key findings will be updated annually in November, in line with OMI evolutions. '''DOI (product):''' https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00241

'''DEFINITION''' Ocean acidification is quantified by decreases in pH, which is a measure of acidity: a decrease in pH value means an increase in acidity, that is, acidification. The observed decrease in ocean pH resulting from increasing concentrations of CO2 is an important indicator of global change. The estimate of global mean pH builds on a reconstruction methodology, * Obtain values for alkalinity based on the so called “locally interpolated alkalinity regression (LIAR)” method after Carter et al., 2016; 2018. * Build on surface ocean partial pressure of carbon dioxide (CMEMS product: MULTIOBS_GLO_BIO_CARBON_SURFACE_REP_015_008) obtained from an ensemble of Feed-Forward Neural Networks (Chau et al. 2022) which exploit sampling data gathered in the Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT) (https://www.socat.info/) * Derive a gridded field of ocean surface pH based on the van Heuven et al., (2011) CO2 system calculations using reconstructed pCO2 (MULTIOBS_GLO_BIO_CARBON_SURFACE_REP_015_008) and alkalinity. The global mean average of pH at yearly time steps is then calculated from the gridded ocean surface pH field. It is expressed in pH unit on total hydrogen ion scale. In the figure, the amplitude of the uncertainty (1σ ) of yearly mean surface sea water pH varies at a range of (0.0023, 0.0029) pH unit (see Quality Information Document for more details). The trend and uncertainty estimates amount to -0.0017±0.0004e-1 pH units per year. The indicator is derived from in situ observations of CO2 fugacity (SOCAT data base, www.socat.info, Bakker et al., 2016). These observations are still sparse in space and time. Monitoring pH at higher space and time resolutions, as well as in coastal regions will require a denser network of observations and preferably direct pH measurements. A full discussion regarding this OMI can be found in section 2.10 of the Ocean State Report 4 (Gehlen et al., 2020). '''CONTEXT''' The decrease in surface ocean pH is a direct consequence of the uptake by the ocean of carbon dioxide. It is referred to as ocean acidification. The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Workshop on Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Marine Biology and Ecosystems (2011) defined Ocean Acidification as “a reduction in the pH of the ocean over an extended period, typically decades or longer, which is caused primarily by uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but can also be caused by other chemical additions or subtractions from the ocean”. The pH of contemporary surface ocean waters is already 0.1 lower than at pre-industrial times and an additional decrease by 0.33 pH units is projected over the 21st century in response to the high concentration pathway RCP8.5 (Bopp et al., 2013). Ocean acidification will put marine ecosystems at risk (e.g. Orr et al., 2005; Gehlen et al., 2011; Kroeker et al., 2013). The monitoring of surface ocean pH has become a focus of many international scientific initiatives (http://goa-on.org/) and constitutes one target for SDG14 (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg14). '''CMEMS KEY FINDINGS''' Since the year 1985, global ocean surface pH is decreasing at a rate of -0.0017±0.0004e-1 per year. '''DOI (product):''' https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00224