Cruise Report, RV ATAIR, Cruise 0671021-1, Bremerhaven - Thyboron —- Aberdeen, 18 Jul - 10 Aug 2023 | 29 
6. 
Oceanographic Conditions in Summer 2023 
The BSH produces and provides a comprehensive weekly analysis of sea surface tempera- 
tures (see  https:/www.bsh.de/EN/DATA/Climate-and-Sea/Sea_temperatures/Sea_sur- 
face_temperatures/sea_surface_temperatures_node.html). This approach combines all meas- 
urements collected from time series stations and ships with satellite data and uses statistical 
methods and spatial interpolation to generate a comprehensive data set. This contains esti- 
mates for the weekly mean values of sea surface temperature as a raster data set with a spatial 
resolution (pixel size) of 20 km x 20 km. 
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Figure 6.1. Spatial distribution of sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies for the summer of 2023 
(June, July and August). Anomalies are shown relative to a climatological mean SST field comprising 
the summers of the years 1997-2021, ie. 25 years. Source: BSH. 
Information from this blended analysis SST analysis for the summer months of 2023 (June, 
July and August) reveals a region of pronounced warming in the western North Sea (Figure 
5.1). The centre of this region was located at about 56°30’N off the British east coast and 
stretched from about 55°N towards the Orkney and Shetland Islands in the north. There, SSTs 
were about 0.75°C to 1.5°C warmer than the 1997-2021 climatological summer mean. Ele- 
vated surface warming (SST anomalies > 0.75°C) was also noteable west and north of the 
Dogger Bank as well as above it. The coastal regions surrounding the German Bight in the 
south and east did not show a comparable warming but rather normal conditions. The region 
af the Norwegian Trench off southern Norways was cooler than the climatological summer 
mean (- -0.75°C).