HWN Suggests

The great Atlantic Sargassum belt

Floating mats of Sargassum seaweed in the center of the North Atlantic were first reported by Christopher Columbus in the 15th century. These mats, although abundant, have until recently been limited and discontinuous. However, Wang et al. report that, since 2011, the mats have increased in density and aerial extent to generate a 8850-kilometer-long belt that extends from West Africa to the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. This represents the world's largest macroalgal bloom. Such recurrent blooms may become the new normal.

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Featured

 Meet the sargassum belt, a 5,000-mile-long snake of seaweed circling Florida

It stretches over 5,000 miles. It weighs over 10 million tons. And it's circling around the Gulf of Mexico and the mid-Atlantic, where the right combination of currents and wind could push it ashore. If you haven't heard of the great Atlantic sargassum belt, or even if you have, chances are high that you'll see it pop into your news feed at least once this summer. After a decade of record-breaking blooms, 2023's sargassum mass is again shaping up to cause headaches (literally and figuratively) for beachside towns and tourists.

 The creeping threat of the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt

Visible from space, an explosion of harmful seaweed now stretches like a sea monster across the ocean. Could robots save us from it – and store carbon in the process?

Articles of Interest

A Giant Blob of Seaweed Is Heading to Florida

The mass, known as the great Atlantic Sargassum belt, is drifting toward the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists say seaweed is likely to come ashore by summer to create a rotting, stinking, scourge.

A giant seaweed bloom that can be seen from space threatens beaches in Florida and Mexico

In open water, these giant mats of algae are mostly harmless and even have some benefits, including serving as a habitat for certain fish and crustaceans and absorbing carbon dioxide. But ocean currents are pushing sargassum west, causing hundreds of tons of seaweed to wash up on beaches across the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. There, it can choke corals, wreak havoc on coastal ecosystems and diminish water and air quality as it rots.

A giant, rotting mass of seaweed threatens beach season in the U.S.

The 10-million-pound mass of floating seaweed—called the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt—is heading to Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean right as tourism peaks.

Scientists found a seaweed patch stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to Africa

Fertilizer runoff is likely fueling an explosion of seaweed in the Atlantic.

Stinky seaweed is clogging Caribbean beaches – but a New Zealand solution could turn it into green power and fertiliser

Given the noxious hydrogen sulphide gas emitted by the seaweed as it decomposes and the frequency with which these influxes have recurred since 2011, sargassum has devastated Caribbean economies that depend on tourism and fisheries for survival. But there is something we can do. Our team of researchers has developed a new approach to turn sargassum into bioenergy and fertiliser – a solution that could help restore beaches, create jobs and produce renewable electricity.

The Largest Algae Bloom in World History Is Now Off the Florida Coast

Researchers are tracking the algae Sargassum, which has created record blooms nearly every year since 2011.

This killer belt of seaweed stretches all the way across the Atlantic

And we finally know why it exists.

Too Much of a Good Thing—the Atlantic Sargassum Belt

But now a new hotspot of Sargassum growth is emerging, and instead of creating an oasis for ocean life the growth is causing a nuisance

What’s driving the huge blooms of brown seaweed piling up on Florida and Caribbean beaches?

Here’s a handy geography question for your next trivia match: What is the world’s only sea that doesn’t have a land border? The answer is the Sargasso Sea – a 2-million-square-nautical-mile haven of biodiversity that lies east of Bermuda in the Atlantic Ocean. Rather than beaches, it’s bounded by rotating ocean currents that form the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre. The Sargasso is named for sargassum, a free-floating brown seaweed that grows in its calm, clear waters. In the open ocean this seaweed serves as nursery grounds and a haven for sea life.

Why Waves of Seaweed Have Been Smothering Caribbean Beaches

Since 2011, blooms of Sargassum have wreaked havoc on tropical shores. A new study explains why this is likely a new normal.

Resources

Sargasso Sea Commission

One of the overarching goals of the Commission is to "promote international recognition of the unique ecological and biological nature and global significance of the Sargasso Sea."

Sargassum Monitoring

Official news & maps of sargassum with photos/video to make your own opinion.