  The Gulf of Eilat (Gulf of Aqaba) is a semi-enclosed basin situated at the
northern end of the Red Sea, renowned for its exceptional marine ecosystem. To
evaluate the response of the Gulf to climate variations, we analyzed various
factors including temperature down to 700 m, surface air temperature, and heat
fluxes. We find that the sea temperature is rising at all depths despite
inconclusive trends in local atmospheric variables, including the surface air
temperature. The Gulf's sea surface temperature warms at a rate of a few
hundredths of a degree Celsius per year, which is comparable to the warming of
the global sea surface temperature and the Mediterranean Sea. The increase in
sea warming is linked to fewer winter deep mixing events that used to occur
more frequently in the past. Based on the analysis of the ocean-atmosphere heat
fluxes, we conclude that the lateral advection of heat from the southern part
of the Gulf likely leads to an increase in water temperature in the northern
part of the Gulf. Our findings suggest that local ocean warming is not
necessarily associated with local processes, but rather with the warming of
other remote locations.
