5,000 mile long belt of seaweed weighing more than 11 million tons is sloshing around the Atlantic Ocean. This giant algal blob is creeping its way across the Caribbean and towards the eastern U.S. coast. Scientists have been tracking massive accumulations since 2011 but this year's bloom could be the largest ever. So what's making this Sargassum bloom to record sizes? And what, if anything, can we do about it?
A giant mass of seaweed is heading towards beaches in Mexico, Florida and the Caribbean, bringing with it toxic gases and a smell similar to rotting eggs. Visible from space, the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt stretches from the coast of Africa all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. It is the biggest seaweed bloom on the planet, and for more than a decade researchers have watched as it has continued to grow in size. 2023 is predicted to be another record year. Madeleine Finlay speaks to sargassum expert Prof Brian Lapointe about why it’s getting bigger, what happens when it washes up on coastlines, and if anything can be done to deal with it. Help support our independent journalism at
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