"A marine heatwave is underway in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea." The image of the day on the Copernicus website, the European Union's Earth observation and monitoring program, also features Sardinia . In particular, the sea around the island is getting increasingly warmer .
The published map, taken from satellite, precisely shows the temperature anomaly measured on the sea surface updated to May 2026.
At the end of the month, "several Western European countries recorded above-average temperatures." During the same period, large areas of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea also recorded "above-average sea surface temperatures," according to the graphic.
On the map, the red and dark red areas indicate warmer-than-average waters: they extend along the northern and western coasts of France and in some areas of the western Mediterranean, "with anomalies 5 degrees above the usual temperatures for this time of year."
The sea around Sardinia does not reach the darkest tones but has a color that indicates temperatures between two and three degrees above the seasonal average.