Published March 16, 2023 5 minutes checked out A 10 million-pound blob is riding ocean currents, heading for the pointer of Florida. The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt– a goopy mass of leafy, drifting seaweed extending throughout 5,000 miles– is meandering its method past Florida and through the Caribbean. “In the large stretch of the ocean, it can be a sanctuary,” states Brian Barnes, a marine researcher at the University of South Florida. The spots of seaweed can be a house and source of food for passing fish and sea turtles. Historically, sargassum has actually been a natural part of the ocean community, however in the previous years that sanctuary has actually progressed into a problem efficient in triggering major damage– and a decomposing, stinky one at that. Here’s what we understand about where it originated from– and whether you require to stress over it. Where did it originate from; where is it going?”I attempt to avoid the term blob. That’s not truly what it is,” states Barnes, who states that the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt is actually a series of lots of little blobs with specific spots that are as big as an acre. Smushed together, he includes, it would be approximately the size of Delaware. Sargassum is a golden-hued seaweed, a big macroalgae, that’s continually blended atop the ocean’s currents. Unlike other kinds of seaweed, such as the kelp that’s anchored to the shallow ocean flooring, sargassum is adjusted to life on the ocean blue and lives exclusively in drifting spots. (What to learn about algae– and why it might quickly belong to your diet plan.) Much of it can be discovered in the western Atlantic’s Sargasso Sea, which is such an essential ocean environment to a lot of marine animals it’s been called the “golden drifting jungle.” Due to the fact that sargassum is produced life adrift, it routinely takes a trip throughout the sea. The ocean has lots of various currents that cross the world like conveyor belts. The sargassum nearing U.S. beaches will have hung around off the western coast of Africa, then the high seas of the Atlantic Ocean, and lastly in the Caribbean Sea, where much of the sargassum lives this time of year. (Who rules the high seas? Hooligans and unidentified sea animals.) Based upon currents, Barnes states, the sargassum will likely quickly get in the Gulf of Mexico, make a U-turn, and after that reenter the Atlantic Ocean, going by southern Florida from around April to June. A growing threatSargassum has actually existed for about 30 million years, however flowers of this enormous size are an increasing issue. “To our finest understanding, 2011 was the very first year that there was a huge flower of this things,” states Barnes. Unsafe algal blossoms like red tides are typically sustained by contamination, and sargassum is no various. When farmers spray fertilizers on land, they launch chemicals packed with nutrients to assist crops grow. When those fertilizers leakage into rivers and make their escape to sea, they launch the exact same plant-growing nutrients onto sea plants, inadvertently providing an increase. In the previous years, one perpetrator has actually been the Amazon River, states Cynthia Heil, the director of the Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium’s Red Tide Institute. When that excess sargassum accumulate on beaches, it’s– at finest– an annoyance for services that count on travelers gathering to tidy, seaweed-free beaches. After a big sargassum flower in 2018, tenancy rates at Riviera Maya hotels along the Yucatan Peninsula dropped. (Read more about how researchers are attempting to conserve Mexican beaches from seaweed.) This year, that very same coastline is bracing for 3 feet of sargassum. In addition to obstructing beach gain access to, sargassum stinks, states Heil. As it disintegrates it launches a gas called hydrogen sulfide that smells like rotten eggs. That gas can aggravate the eyes, nose, and throat, according to the Florida Department of Health. Tiny sea animals, like jellyfish, might likewise reside in sargassum and can aggravate skin. The seaweed, in excess, can likewise hurt the environment. The thick, twisted mass can smother reef and mangroves, and small animals residing in the land like crabs and clams. Presently, there’s no simple repair for eliminating sargassum, state researchers, and elimination can cost 10s of countless dollars. Hannah Farrow added to this post.