Figure 1.

Geographical location of the Gulf of Aqaba (a) and thermal profiles of the Red Sea (b) and study area (Eilat, Israel) (c). Representative average sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in summer (July–Sep 2014) in the central and southern Red Sea are much higher than in the Gulf of Aqaba. The long-term August maximum at the study location is 26.67 ± 0.75°C (1988–2016), and daily mean SSTs usually do not exceed 28°C (with the exception of 2007 and 2012; figure 2 and electronic supplementary material, figure S1d).