Then women living in nearby villages, that date back to the Maya period, mix the processed sargassum with glycerin and honey to make soap which they sell for $2 (£1.50) a bar to hotels, hospitals and shops in the area. In 2019, Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, estimated that clearing all the sargassum that year would cost $2.7m (£2m) and enlisted the country's navy to help with the massive clean-up. This story has been shared 230,190 times. NORTH. The stranded seaweed poses a serious threat to marine wildlife too. The response was very positive, Morrison says. Instead, marine algae are a group of species from the Protista kingdom that fall into three distinct groups: Date Posted: 2020-11-23 Source: BBC. While the seaweed serves as a natural habitat for turtle hatchlings and hundreds of fish species, it becomes a nuisance after it washes ashore. Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Largest Seaweed Bloom on Record Discovered in the Atlantic Ocean Often overshadowed by their coinhabitants from the animal kingdom, sea plants are vital members of marine ecosystems. In parts of Mexico and the Caribbean, locals are taking the matter into their own hands and finding innovative ways to turn the environmental disaster on their coastlines into a sustainable economic opportunity. “Our goats look very lean as they do not consume enough minerals. The destruction of the Amazon rainforest is also thought to have fueled the growth of sargassum. Morrison wanted to solve two major problems in Jamaica: sargassum and the lack of affordable fodder for goats, a local delicacy. As huge swathes of the rainforest are cut down, it is replaced with heavily fertilised farmland. The massive sargassum blooms are a … The project is still in the research phase and the researchers have converted 100kg (220lb) of sargassum to date but Allen hopes to scale it up and partner with companies and governments to tackle the issue. Join one million Future fans by liking us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter or Instagram. Allen and a team of researchers from the universities of Exeter and Bath devised a process called hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL), which uses high pressure and temperature to split wet biomass into four components: a bio oil that can be upgraded to biodiesel, water-soluble organic compounds used to produce fertiliser, carbon dioxide (which the researchers say they aim to capture rather than release into the atmosphere) and char, a solid material containing all the metals found in the seaweed, which the team also plans to recover at a later stage. The country currently imports $15m (£11.3m) of mutton and goat meat each year. Such efforts to tackle the sargassum glut are undoubtedly small compared to the overwhelming mounds decomposing on Atlantic beaches. I In the summer of 2018, an almost incomprehensibly large mass of … ATLANTIC OCEAN. The massive sargassum blooms are a threat to biodiversity, fisheries and tourism, according to a new report from BBC. Morrison A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Culture, Worklife, and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday. A Day in the Life of a Seaweed Harvester. Thanks for contacting us. Since 2011 a seaweed bloom in the Atlantic ocean has boomed to a point that its causing big problems for small nations. The seaweed swamping the Atlantic Ocean. Other researchers, such as Elizabeth Johns of the US’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, agree that 2011 was a tipping point for sargassum in the Atlantic, suggesting future blooms are likely to be even larger. Before that we did not see much sargassum. Ever expanded lots of seaweed are choking the Atlantic ocean and turning into a menace to seashores in Mexico and the Caribbean. Sargasso Sea, area of the North Atlantic Ocean, elliptical in shape and relatively still, that is strewn with free-floating seaweed of the genus Sargassum. By Katie Langin Jun. Largest Seaweed Bloom Recorded Impressively Spans the Length of the Atlantic Ocean. Residents of Mexican coastal towns face a daunting task to try to clear the mounds of sargassum by hand (Credit: Getty Images). The seaweed swamping the Atlantic Ocean (Image credit: Getty Images ) A sargassum bloom the width of the Atlantic Ocean caused havoc on beaches, but locals in Mexico and the Caribbean are fast finding ways to turn the seaweed invasion to their advantage. There are some drawbacks, though. Computer simulations conducted by … In retrospect, 2011 was just the first wave. Read about our approach to external linking. “I figured it is time for action.”. Awganic Inputs buys sargassum from local collectors and dries, cleans and shreds the seaweed while it is still fairly fresh, before mixing it with crop biproduct to produce fodder for goats. Atlantic salmon have been farmed in Scotland since the early 1600s; seaweed was a staple food for American settlers. Region: Chesapeake Bay Date Reported: Reported By: Source: BBC . We've received your submission. This story has been shared 230,190 times. After analysing 19 years of satellite data, researchers at the University of South Florida found that since 2011 the sargassum bloom has appeared annually and is growing in size. If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter, called “The Essential List”. The CroswodSolver.com system found 25 answers for floating masses of seaweed in the atlantic ocean crossword clue. Mysterious masses of seaweed assault Caribbean islands . “It is a good vegetation in the ocean, on the beach it turns into something bad,” says Wang. 77,465, © 2020 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved The emissions from travel it took to report this story were 0kg CO2. Seaweed Blooms Force National Emergency in Barbados (Photo credit should read RODRIGO ARANGUA/AFP via Getty Images) During the summer of 2018, an unbelievably enormous string of sargassum appeared in the Atlantic Ocean. The delectable result is a sushi roll. It lies between the parallels 20° N and 35° N and the meridians 30° W and 70° W inside a clockwise-setting ocean-current system, of which the Gulf Stream (issuing from the Gulf of Mexico) forms part of the western rim. Many seaweeds contain anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial agents. The pungent smell and unsightly appearance are driving tourists away from beach resorts in the Caribbean and Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula – a blow to the region’s economy, which relies heavily on tourism. While the coronavirus pandemic has stalled production for now, Morrison hopes to scale up and start selling cheap sargassum feed across Jamaica next year. Terms of Use The largest seaweed bloom ever detected spanned the Atlantic in 2018 Satellite data revealed increasing amounts of Sargassum algae in the ocean since 2011 After that we are seeing recurring, massive sargassum blooms in the central Atlantic,” says Mengqiu Wang of the University of South Florida, one of the team who discovered the Atlantic-spanning bloom in 2018. Indeed, a Caribbean research cruise in autumn 2014 recorded sargassum concentrations 10 times that of the 2011 event, and 300 times greater than any other autumn in the previous 20 years, according to research by marine scientist Amy Siuda and colleagues at the Sea Education Association, Woods Hole in Massachusetts. BBC Future - In the summer of 2018, an almost incomprehensibly large mass of stringy brown seaweed appeared in the Atlantic Ocean. A sargassum bloom the width of the Atlantic Ocean caused havoc on beaches, but locals in Mexico and the Caribbean are fast finding ways to turn the seaweed invasion to their advantage. Our system collect crossword clues from most populer crossword, cryptic puzzle, quick/small crossword that found in Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Daily Express, Daily Mirror, Herald-Sun, The Courier-Mail, Dominion Post and many others popular newspaper. “Many people see sargassum as a nuisance,” he says. While the exact causes for the boom have yet to be pinned down, Wang’s team believes that a number of environmental factors are contributing to the sargassum explosion. Besides its catastrophic impact on tourism, sargassum is also a public health concern, says Wang. The seaweed—a type of brown algae called sargassum—had grown in the ocean and washed ashore in unprecedented quantities. While in St Catherine’s, a coastal community in south-east Jamaica, Daveian Morrison is using sargassum to produce animal feed. Before sunrise, I met up with one of our seaweed harvesters on the salty docks of the Atlantic … It stretched from one coast to the other, from the shores of West Africa to the Gulf of Mexico. But in 2011, satellite images showed a near-constant string of the plants stretching across the entire tropical Atlantic Ocean. The Biomaya Initiative, an organisation established to deal with the sargassum glut, hires local residents to collect the foul-smelling seaweed from the beaches, and then cleans it to remove metals and plastics. The algal explosion in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea could signify a new normal, say US scientists. A sargassum bloom the width of the Atlantic Ocean caused havoc on beaches, but locals in Mexico and the Caribbean are fast finding ways to turn the seaweed invasion to their advantage. Unlike all other regions called seas, it has no land boundaries. Seaweed is chock-full of vitamins, minerals, and fiber, and can be tasty. Sitemap “It affects local tourism and leisure activities and suffocates fish and turtle hatchlings,” says Morrison. Among them are abnormal ocean currents and wind patterns linked to climate change. For the more rotten sargassum, it is turned into charcoal and sold for use in cosmetics. Researchers on the College of South Florida have decided that since 2011 the […] This story has been shared 100,239 times. “Because the pressures and temperatures are so high, we can put pretty much anything in there. Deforestation and fertiliser use are among the factors thought to be driving the growth. The seaweed swamping the Atlantic Ocean. Researchers at the University of South Florida have determined that since 2011 the annual bloom has been increasing exponentially. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Seaweed swamping the Atlantic Ocean November 22, 2020 November 22, 2020 3 min read admin A sargassum bloom the width of the Atlantic Ocean caused havoc on beaches, but locals in Mexico and the Caribbean are fast finding ways to turn the seaweed invasion to their advantage. The belt is different than the Sargasso Sea, the area of seaweed in the Atlantic Ocean off Florida's East Coast that provides nursery grounds for sea turtles that hatch on Florida beaches. Ever expanded masses of seaweed are choking the Atlantic ocean and becoming a menace to beaches in Mexico and the Caribbean. agree that 2011 was a tipping point for sargassum in the Atlantic, suggesting future blooms are likely to be even larger, 10 times that of the 2011 event, and 300 times greater than any other autumn in the previous 20 years, known as the “floating golden rainforest”, hydrogen sulphide exposure from rotting sargassum has been linked to neurological, digestive and respiratory symptoms, turning sargassum into materials from paper, Find out more about how we calculated this figure here. The process is energy-intensive and runs on fossil fuels, says Allen, though heat from the process can be recovered and reused to improve efficiency. The large sargassum blooms are a risk to biodiversity, fisheries and tourism, based on a brand new report from BBC. While the 2018 event was a record, sargassum blooms have been a nuisance in the Atlantic for some years, where they harm coastal biodiversity, fisheries and the tourism industry in the Caribbean and Mexico. A worker cleans a beach by removing the sargassum that has contaminated the beaches of the Caribbean amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Barbados declared a national emergency in June 2018 after its shorelines were engulfed by sargassum. Even though they may look like underwater plants—in some cases, growing in excess of more than 150 feet in length—seaweeds are not plants at all. “As a community we decided to do this to protect the planet and take care of our beaches,” says Gonzalo Balderas, founder of Biomaya Initiative. In fact, the massive seaweed strands connected from the shores of the Gulf of Mexico to West Africa. Privacy Notice The problem comes when sargassum washes up on the beach and starts to rot, emitting hydrogen sulfide – a gas that smells like rotten eggs. Nylon fishing nets tangled in the coral reefs are also turned into fertiliser. “2011 was a tipping point. The aim is to find a solution to the sargassum problem that is economically viable and supports the local community. Before that we did not see much sargassum. The digital emissions from this story are an estimated 1.2g to 3.6g CO2 per page view. The Sargasso Sea (/ s ɑːr ˈ ɡ æ s oʊ /) is a region of the Atlantic Ocean bounded by four currents forming an ocean gyre. Anti-terror attack armor on NYC bridge 'hanging by straps', Kandi Burruss and Todd Tucker attend maskless birthday bash in Atlanta, Ross Mathews shows off 50-pound weight loss on Instagram, Interim ‘Jeopardy’ Host Ken Jennings Under Fire for Insensitive Tweets, © 2020 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Record-breaking 2020 Atlantic hurricane season officially ends, 2020 Hurricane season is officially record-breaking, Boiling over: Atlantic Ocean records hottest decade in nearly 3,000 years, Blown away: Mystery of the couple who left the Hamptons in a balloon 50 years ago — and vanished, Trump's 'fraud' charges run real risk of costing GOP Senate runoffs in Georgia, No easy return to Iran deal and other commentary, Wisconsin certifies Joe Biden victory after partial recount, Arizona certifies Joe Biden win by 10,457 votes, Biden pick spread conspiracy theory about Trump's 2016 win, Best Cyber Monday 2020 deals you can shop right now, The best Cyber Monday deals Amazon has to offer for 2020, Best Buy's Cyber Monday sale has some of the best tech deals of 2020, Lululemon Cyber Monday 2020 sales: Discounts leggings and more, Coach Outlet takes up to 70 percent off sitewide for Cyber Monday sale, Sleepy toddler dragged by dad off ski slopes, Brandon Blackstock seeks $436K in monthly support in Kelly Clarkson divorce. “I liken it to ‘geology in a tin’,” says Allen. It is unclear what had caused the dreaded seaweed to explode in the Atlantic in recent years. And it is a problem that appears to be getting worse in the Atlantic. For at least 1,500 years, the Japanese have enrobed a mixture of raw fish, sticky rice, and other ingredients in a seaweed called nori. Sargassum has many nutrients, minerals and salt,” he says. Sargassum, the largest seaweed bloom, was recorded in the summer of 2018. 11, 2018 , 5:20 PM. Do Not Sell My Personal Information, Your California Privacy Rights In subsequent years, the seaweed … Ever expanded masses of seaweed are choking the Atlantic ocean and becoming a menace to beaches in Mexico and the Caribbean. We can convert plastic alongside the [sargassum] biomass in the same process,” he says. The blooms are at their largest in June and July, she says. The seaweed in turn is nourished by the excrement of these organisms. World's biggest seaweed bloom has now grown so big it spans the Atlantic Ocean and reaches from the coast of Africa to the Gulf of Mexico. Ever expanded masses of seaweed are choking the Atlantic ocean and becoming a menace to beaches in Mexico and the Caribbean. Researchers analysing satellite images of the bloom estimated its mass to be more than 20 million tonnes – heavier than 200 fully loaded aircraft carriers. In particular, macroalgae—commonly known as seaweed—provide habitats for many sea animals, produce oxygen via photosynthesis, and even combat global climate change by sequestering greenhouse gases. Researchers believe the growing sargassum blooms are down to a combination of changing ocean and wind currents, and the deforestation of the Amazon (Credit: Getty Images). The huge piles of seaweed prevent turtles from nesting and ensnare dolphins and fish in the coral reefs. There’s a mass of seaweed in the Atlantic Ocean that last year, at its peak, was so large it stretched all the way from the Gulf of Mexico to West Africa. Photo about Seaweed at the Atlantic ocean coast on sandy beach. Researchers have found the largest seaweed bloom yet sighted along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Your California Privacy Rights Seaweed is the common name for marine algae. Removing the seaweed from the beaches is a costly and time-consuming process. Scientists led by the USF College of Marine Science used NASA satellite observations to discover the largest bloom of macroalgae in the world called the Great Atlantic … “What we are trying to do is make the clean-up of contaminated areas profitable, so that there is an incentive to do it, improve quality of life and protect the environment,” says Allen. Your Ad Choices Find out more about how we calculated this figure here. When scattered across open water, sargassum – sometimes known as the “floating golden rainforest” –  serves as an important breeding ground for turtle hatchlings and a refuge for hundreds of fish species. Some are turning sargassum into materials from paper to building materials. The seaweed grows and lives in the ocean.The seaweed is a plant that adapts to the ocean very easily and it is food for the fishes Ocean with a vast bog of seaweed? The massive sargassum blooms are a threat to biodiversity, fisheries and tourism, according to a new report from BBC. Morrison founded Awganic Inputs in 2018 after receiving reports of sargassum piled 15ft (4.6m) high on the beaches. After that we are seeing recurring, massive sargassum blooms in the central Atlantic,” Mengqiu Wang, a researcher from the University, told the news network. Goat feed, soap and biofuels won’t make much of a dent in these heaps any time soon, but they are a sign of coastal resilience – and of local economies adapting to turn a rotten mess into something of use, whatever the changing oceans wash up. It is distinguished from other parts of the Atlantic Ocean by its characteristic brown Sargassum seaweed and often calm blue water.. I took a trip across the country to visit with our skilled harvesters who devote their life to these flavorful ocean treasures. Awganic Inputs recently carried out a pilot project, converting 544kg (1,200lb) of sargassum into goat feed and selling it to farmers for $0.26 (20p) a kilogram. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Scientists believe it is likely linked to global climate change and deforestation of the Amazonian rainforests. Prior to 2011, most open-ocean Sargassum plants were found in small clumps around the Gulf of Mexico and Sargasso Sea. Mother of slain Florida teen shot at his burial, Defiant SI bar owner locks doors after TLC peace officers arrive, Pregnant mom who disappeared on Thanksgiving found dead, Bodybuilder marries sex doll after whirlwind romance, Washington, DC, detective killed by wife in murder-suicide. Now, beaches along the Atlantic and Caribbean are seeing knee-high swathes of this seaweed mat washing ashore, posing a threat to the vital tourism industries of some of these communities. Rotting sargassum smells like rotten eggs and can deter tourism and also attract unwelcome insects. The problem became so bad in Barbados that the government declared a national emergency in 2018 after beaches on the island nation were overwhelmed. In the past three years, tourist numbers have plummeted due to sargassum in Playa del Carmen, Balderas says. 230,190, This story has been shared 100,239 times. In 2018, Laura Beristain Navarrete, mayor of coastal town Playa del Carmen in Mexico, told a local newspaper that tourist numbers in the region had fallen by up to 35% due to sargassum. “Sargassum can suffocate coral reefs by covering them and decimate breeding grounds for turtles,” says Mike Allen, a marine scientist from the University of Exeter who has developed a cheap way of converting sargassum into biofuels and sustainable fertiliser. When it decays, it attracts insects that can cause skin irritation, while hydrogen sulphide exposure from rotting sargassum has been linked to neurological, digestive and respiratory symptoms. In open water, sargassum provides a crucial habitat for fish and other marine animals – but on shore it can make it harder for turtles to spawn and hatch (Credit: Getty Images). It stretches across 8,850 kilometers (5,500 miles) and is estimated to weigh 18 billion kilograms. Image of background, wallpaper, seaweeds - 199060868 It covers approximately 20 percent of Earth's surface and about 29 percent of its water surface area. The fertiliser ends up in the Amazon river and eventually in the Atlantic where it floods the ocean with nutrients such as nitrogen. “It’s supposed to be a dream beach.”, Entrepreneurs are finding an increasing number of ways to turn the sargassum glut into something useful – such as paper (Credit: Getty Images), While in St Catherine’s, a coastal community in south-east Jamaica, Daveian Morrison is using sargassum to produce animal feed. A sargassum bloom the width of the Atlantic Ocean caused havoc on beaches, but locals in Mexico and the Caribbean are fast finding ways to turn the seaweed invasion to their advantage. Spanning 8,850 kilometres (5,000 miles), the seaweed … In the summer of 2018, an almost incomprehensibly large mass of stringy brown seaweed appeared in the Atlantic Ocean. “2011 was a tipping point. “They are glad that something is happening with it.”. It is known to separate the "Old World" from the "New World" in European perception of the World. In 2019, Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador estimated that it would cost roughly $2.7 million to clean up the sargassum and enlisted the Mexican navy in the project. Spanning 8,850 kilometres (5,000 miles), the seaweed bloom, known as the great Atlantic sargassum belt, was the largest ever recorded. As part of a natural biological cycle, seaweed has grown in small amounts in the Atlantic before being carried by currents into the Gulf of Mexico for thousands of years. In Playa del Carmen, for example – one of Mexico’s most popular tourist destinations – a community group is tackling the sargassum invasion by turning it into soap. The Atlantic Ocean (informally The Pond) is the second-largest of the world's oceans, with an area of about 106,460,000 km 2 (41,100,000 sq mi). It stretched from one coast to the other, from the shores of West Africa to the Gulf of Mexico. Records show during the large 2018 bloom there were higher levels of nutrients in the central Atlantic region where the sargassum grows compared with 2010, says Wang. 100,239, This story has been shared 77,465 times.

seaweed in the atlantic ocean

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seaweed in the atlantic ocean 2020