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Warmest oceans by average sea temperature

Five oceans, ranked by the year-round average sea surface temperature across 19,259 coastal locations, lakes, and rivers tracked on this site. The Indian Ocean comes out on top. The Southern Ocean sits at the bottom. Everything in between is the interesting part.

Warmest ocean

Indian Ocean

Year-round average 27.6°C

Coldest ocean

Southern Ocean

Year-round average -1.0°C

The ranking

Each row is the mean of every location we track inside that ocean's rough basin. Locations are bucketed by latitude and longitude, so marginal seas (the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf) sit with their parent ocean. Click any ocean to jump to its top warmest locations.

# Ocean Annual mean
1 Indian Ocean 27.6°C
2 Pacific Ocean 18.2°C
3 Atlantic Ocean 16.5°C
4 Arctic Ocean 2.9°C
5 Southern Ocean -1.0°C

Latest sea temperatures around the world

Each pin is a coastal location coloured by the latest daily reading. The hottest pins concentrate in the tropics, the coolest stretch toward the poles. Drag and zoom to pick a region.

Zoom in to see individual locations. Click a pin for water temperatures. View list →
°C -2 0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 24 27 30 35

Indian Ocean

Annual mean 27.6°C across 3,789 locations

The Indian Ocean wins the year-round warmth contest by a clear margin. Most of its coast sits between 30°S and 30°N, and three sides of it are tropical landmasses. The Persian Gulf and the Red Sea drag the average higher still.

Indian Ocean monthly average 26.3°C to 28.3°C
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  • Warmest month May 28.3°C
  • Coldest month February 26.3°C
  • Annual mean 27.6°C
  • Months above 20°C 12 of 12

Top 10 warmest locations in the indian ocean

Sorted by the year-round average across the past ten years of daily readings.

# Location Annual mean
1 Al Qunfudhah Makkah Province 30.5°C
2 Jizan 30.4°C
3 Al Birk 30.3°C
4 Port Weld Perak 30.2°C
5 Mits'iwa Northern Red Sea 30.2°C
6 Tobelombangi Sulawesi Tengah 30.1°C
7 Teluk Togian Sulawesi Tengah 30.1°C
8 Poso Sulawesi Tengah 30.1°C
9 Nabire Papua 30.1°C
10 Massawa 30.1°C

Seasonal swing from coldest to warmest month is 2°C.

Pacific Ocean

Annual mean 18.2°C across 6,827 locations

The Pacific spans more latitude than any other ocean, so its average is pulled down by Alaskan, Russian, and Antarctic coasts. Tropical Pacific island nations push the upper end of the list.

Pacific Ocean monthly average 14.2°C to 22.4°C
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  • Warmest month August 22.4°C
  • Coldest month February 14.2°C
  • Annual mean 18.2°C
  • Months above 20°C 4 of 12

Top 10 warmest locations in the pacific ocean

Sorted by the year-round average across the past ten years of daily readings.

# Location Annual mean
1 Kimbe Bay West New Britain Province 30.2°C
2 Talasea West New Britain Province 30.2°C
3 Tavanatangir Harbour East New Britain Province 30.1°C
4 Eleonora Bay West New Britain Province 30.1°C
5 Kimbe 30.1°C
6 Soroken Bougainville 30.0°C
7 Ambitle Island New Ireland Province 30.0°C
8 Anewa Bay Bougainville 30.0°C
9 Carteret Islands 30.0°C
10 Torokina Bougainville 30.0°C

Seasonal swing from coldest to warmest month is 8°C.

Atlantic Ocean

Annual mean 16.5°C across 6,268 locations

The Atlantic runs from the Arctic to the Antarctic. The Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the African coast pull the average up. Newfoundland, the North Sea, and the Baltic pull it down.

Atlantic Ocean monthly average 12.8°C to 20.9°C
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  • Warmest month August 20.9°C
  • Coldest month February 12.8°C
  • Annual mean 16.5°C
  • Months above 20°C 3 of 12

Top 10 warmest locations in the atlantic ocean

Sorted by the year-round average across the past ten years of daily readings.

# Location Annual mean
1 Ilha Do Brigue State of Amapá 29.3°C
2 Macapa Amapa 29.3°C
3 Santana Amapa 29.3°C
4 Barcarena Para 29.2°C
5 Cameta Para 29.2°C
6 Limoeiro do Ajuru Para 29.2°C
7 Oeiras do Para Para 29.2°C
8 Porto de Mosqueiro Pará 29.1°C
9 Belem Para 29.1°C
10 Ananindeua Para 29.1°C

Seasonal swing from coldest to warmest month is 8°C.

Arctic Ocean

Annual mean 2.9°C across 264 locations

Most Arctic coastal locations are ice-bound or near-freezing for much of the year. The few places that creep into double-digit means are inlets that thaw briefly in late summer.

Arctic Ocean monthly average 0.5°C to 7.4°C
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  • Warmest month August 7.4°C
  • Coldest month March 0.5°C
  • Annual mean 2.9°C
  • Months above 20°C 0 of 12

Top 10 warmest locations in the arctic ocean

Sorted by the year-round average across the past ten years of daily readings.

# Location Annual mean
1 Husøya Nordland 9.4°C
2 Solfjellsjyen Nordland 9.1°C
3 Sandnessjoen 8.9°C
4 Hemnesberget 8.8°C
5 Nesna 8.8°C
6 Lurøy Nordland 8.8°C
7 Røst Nordland 8.7°C
8 Glomfjord 8.7°C
9 Sørland Nordland 8.7°C
10 Mo I Rana 8.6°C

Seasonal swing from coldest to warmest month is 7°C.

Southern Ocean

Annual mean -1.0°C across 44 locations

The Southern Ocean is below freezing for most of the year and never warms much. Coastal Antarctic stations make up almost the entire sample.

Southern Ocean monthly average -1.6°C to -0.2°C
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  • Warmest month February -0.2°C
  • Coldest month August -1.6°C
  • Annual mean -1.0°C
  • Months above 20°C 0 of 12

Top 10 warmest locations in the southern ocean

Sorted by the year-round average across the past ten years of daily readings.

# Location Annual mean
1 Base Prat-A South Shetland Islands 0.1°C
2 Ardley Cove South Shetland Islands 0.1°C
3 Artigas South Shetland Islands 0.1°C
4 Harmony Cove South Shetland Islands 0.1°C
5 Potter Cove South Shetland Islands 0.1°C
6 Admiralty Bay South Shetland Islands 0.0°C
7 Elephant Island South Shetland Islands 0.0°C
8 Gibbs Island South Shetland Islands -0.1°C
9 Melchior Islands Argentine Antarctica -0.3°C
10 Lemaire Island (Caleta Gloria) Argentine Antarctica -0.4°C

Seasonal swing from coldest to warmest month is 1°C.

Top 25 warmest coastal locations on Earth

The warmest single locations in our sample sit in the equatorial Pacific and the Indian Ocean basin. Year-round averages above 29°C are common. Click through to any place for its 30-day chart, monthly profile, and 10-year history.

# Location Annual mean
1 Al Qunfudhah Makkah Province 30.5°C
2 Jizan 30.4°C
3 Al Birk 30.3°C
4 Port Weld Perak 30.2°C
5 Mits'iwa Northern Red Sea 30.2°C
6 Kimbe Bay West New Britain Province 30.2°C
7 Talasea West New Britain Province 30.2°C
8 Tobelombangi Sulawesi Tengah 30.1°C
9 Tavanatangir Harbour East New Britain Province 30.1°C
10 Teluk Togian Sulawesi Tengah 30.1°C
11 Poso Sulawesi Tengah 30.1°C
12 Nabire Papua 30.1°C
13 Massawa 30.1°C
14 Donggala Sulawesi Tengah 30.1°C
15 Kwatisore Papua 30.1°C
16 Eleonora Bay West New Britain Province 30.1°C
17 Pulau-Pulau Moor Papua 30.1°C
18 Labuk Bay Sabah 30.1°C
19 Lumut Pier Perak 30.1°C
20 Kimbe 30.1°C
21 Sulawesi 30.0°C
22 Lumut 30.0°C
23 Soroken Bougainville 30.0°C
24 Al Luhayyah 30.0°C
25 Moutong Sulawesi Tengah 30.0°C

How the ranking is built

Every location page on the site stores a daily history that goes back about a decade. From that history we calculate a per-location annual mean and a mean for each calendar month. The ocean numbers above are the mean of those per-location numbers across every place that falls inside the ocean.

That approach favours coastal places over the open ocean, because that is what people search for. Open-ocean averages would shift the numbers a little, but the ordering of the oceans by warmth wouldn't change.

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