Scientists are warning of a record-breaking sargassum buildup in the Central Atlantic. This is near the Caribbean Sea oceanic border and has been caused by unpredictability winds, currents, storms, etc.
Researchers from the University of South Florida announced this week that the amount of prickly-pelagic fauna measured at the end of December, approximately 5 million metric tonnes, was substantially higher than the amount measured at the same point last year, about 1 million tons.
Researchers at USF informed that “although we predicted a growth in the November Bulletin, this magnitude is noteworthy, with December 2023 abundance being a historic record.”
The announcement this year is similar to that made last year, when the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt grew to unprecedented levels in the first months of 2023. There was extensive media coverage about a possible coastal invasion in Florida during summer’s busiest travel season.
The macroalgae failed to reach a record of 22 million tons of biomass in 2022. Instead, they fell precipitously in May by 15% – the first time this has happened since the tracking began in 2011. This is a sign that the marine biomass can be unpredictable and the scientists are ignorant of its workings.
Chuanmin Hu is a professor at USF and he said the tonnage in December “indicates 2024 will be a major sargassum-producing year.”
The majority of the sargassum can be found about 500 miles east of Caribbean Sea. In mid-December, however, a large bloom was seen near the mouth the Orinoco River, Venezuela. USF reports that the bloom moved to Trinidad and Tobago in the northeast.
