Seaweed belt weighs 13M tons

Florida officials are forewarning visitors to SE Florida and Gulf Coast beaches this summer to expect some unwanted seaweed. From the beaches in Haulover to Hollywood to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., the Sargassum bloom is so big, it’s visible from space. The seaweed bloom weighs 13M tons and is twice the width of the U.S. - and has doubled in size from December to January. While headlines make it sound like an algal Loch Ness monster, one oceanographer told Salon those claims are nothing more than sensational head-line writing. Dr. Yuyuan Xie uses NASA satellites to study Sargassum, a genus of large brown algae that floats around in island-size masses. "There is no 'seaweed blob,'" Xie, who works in the Optical Oceanography Laboratory at the University of South Florida. "But there is a 5,000-mile Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt," which, Xie says, is comprised of less than one-tenth of one percent (0.1%) seaweed. The remainder is "Sargassum free" or normal ocean water. SE Florida, including Miami and the Florida Keys, are the areas in the U.S. most likely to be impacted. (Salon 03/225/23) Despite lurid headlines, there is no "seaweed blob" coming for Florida, oceanographer says | Salon.com (WSVN 04/09/23) Giant seaweed blob hits Florida beaches (wlbt.com)