News and views from the world of marine heritage and conservation
Ocean heat rising
Discovered after 2,000 years
Shackleton’ s Quest filmed
ENVIRONMENT
Protect Our Seas
News and views from the world of marine heritage and conservation
PHOTO: CARABINIERI TPC
Ocean heat rising
The world’ s oceans hit their hottest ever recorded temperatures for July, partly fuelled by developing El Niño conditions in the Pacific. The average sea surface temperature outside the world’ s polar regions – between 60 days north and 60 degrees south – was 20.96 ° in July, beating a previous high of 20.89 ° C, set in 2023. In terms of air temperatures, July 2026 was the second-warmest globally on record, with temperatures 1.47 ° C above the estimated pre-industrial average.
Discovered after 2,000 years
Italian divers have discovered a Roman shipwreck off the coast of Sicily, piled high with intact amphorae. Police divers found the wreck at a depth of 46m after a tip-off from a local fisherman. The field of wreckage is 21m long and 6m wide and is thought to date from the 1st or 2nd Century BC. Fisherman and freediver Giacomo De Mola chanced on the wreckage while surveying the seabed near Mazara del Vallo. He decided to dive the site to
investigate further, and came across the stacked amphorae.“ I got closer and my heart stopped,” he said.“ It wasn’ t a rock.” Rather, he saw hundreds of intact amphorae – large ceramic jars used to store and transport goods such as wine and olive oil.“ This is the most incredible discovery of my life,” Mr De Mola said.“ It’ s hard to describe what it feels like to be among the first humans in nearly 20 centuries to see that place again.”
Shackleton’ s Quest filmed
An expedition 400 metres below the Labrador Sea has revealed the first images of Quest, the ship that carried explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton on his final voyage. The Royal Canadian Geographical Society sent a remotely operated vehicle down to capture images of the ship where it sank off the coast of Labrador in 1962. The wreck’ s location was determined by Research Director Antoine Normandin, who said that two distinctive portholes below the bridge match photographs of the ship.
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