WASHINGTON - JULY was the hottest month for the world's oceans in almost 130 years of recordkeeping.

The average water temperature worldwide was 62.6 degrees (17 Celsius), according to the National Climatic Data Centre, the branch of the US government that keeps world weather records.

June was only slightly cooler, while August could set another record, scientists say. The previous record was set in July 1998 during a powerful El Nino in the Pacific. The coolest recorded ocean temperature was 59.3 degrees (15 Celsius) in December 1909.

Meteorologists said there is a combination of forces at work: A natural El Nino weather pattern just getting started on top of worsening manmade global warming, and a dash of random weather variations. Already the resulting ocean heat is harming threatened coral reefs. It also could hasten the melting of Arctic sea ice and help hurricanes strengthen.

The Gulf of Mexico, where warm water fuels hurricanes, has temperatures dancing around 90 degrees (32 Celsius). Most of the water in the Northern Hemisphere has been considerably warmer than normal. The Mediterranean is about three degrees warmer than normal.

Higher temperatures rule in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The phenomenon is most noticeable near the Arctic, where water temperatures are as much as 10 degrees (5.5 Celsius) above average.

The tongues of warm water could help melt sea ice from below and even cause thawing of ice sheets on Greenland, said Waleed Abdalati, director of the Earth Science and Observation Centre at the University of Colorado.

Breaking heat records in water is more ominous as a sign of global warming than breaking temperature marks on land, because water takes longer to heat up and does not cool as easily as land.

'This warm water we're seeing doesn't just disappear next year; it'll be around for a long time,' said climate scientist Andrew Weaver of the University of Victoria in British Columbia. It takes five times more energy to warm water than land.

The warmer water 'affects weather on the land,' Dr Weaver said. 'This is another yet really important indicator of the change that's occurring.' -- AP