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☆ The huge blob of seaweed headed for Florida has shrunk by 75%
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-09 | by ( Zoe Sottile | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Florida vacations are back on, sans stinky seaweed. In April, the seaweed set a record, with scientists identifying 3 million tons of sargassum in the Caribbean Sea. The sargassum that lands on Florida beaches originates in the Gulf of Mexico and the western Caribbean, Hu went on. Small amounts of the seaweed may still land on Florida beaches, but not in large enough quantities to present a problem, according to Hu. But while Florida enjoys clean beaches, in the eastern Caribbean, “they’ll still see a lot of sargassum,” Hu noted.

Persons: Chuanmin Hu, ”, Hu, “ they’ll, ” Hu, Sargassum, sargassum Organizations: CNN, University of South, Oceanography, Florida beachgoers, Sunshine, Optical Oceanography, Central West Atlantic Locations: Florida, Gulf, Mexico, West Africa, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, Straits, University of South Florida, of Mexico, Lesser, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico

☆ Good News, Florida. The Giant Seaweed Blob Has Shrunk.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Livia Albeck-Ripka | More About Livia Albeck-Ripka | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For months, Florida’s usually picturesque coast was plagued by a rotting tangle of seaweed, known as sargassum. Scientists said they had expected the sargassum in the Gulf of Mexico to wane eventually — but not so fast, or by so much. “That is a surprise,” said Chuanmin Hu, a professor of oceanography at the University of South Florida, noting that there was still “a lot of sargassum” in the Tropical Atlantic. “The good news is the sargassum season for Florida is very likely over for this year. Last month, the amount of sargassum in the Gulf of Mexico dropped by a staggering 75 percent, Dr. Hu and colleagues at the University of South Florida Optical Oceanography Lab noted in a bulletin published last week.

Persons: Beachgoers, ”, Chuanmin Hu, it’s, . Hu Organizations: University of South, Oceanography Locations: Gulf, Mexico, University of South Florida, Florida, Eastern Caribbean

☆ Meet the climate startup turning a 5,000-mile stretch of seaweed from a plague of coastal communities into a giant carbon store
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

London-based Seaweed Generation is one such startup dedicated to seaweed sequestration. She's part of a wave of new "blue economy" entrepreneurs taking advantage of seaweed for carbon removal. Seaweed GenerationThe seaweed RoombaEstridge's Seaweed Generation has developed a robot that she described as a "Roomba meets Pac-Man." Seaweed Generation will work in waters with around 4,000 meters of depth and no upwelling current, which could bring sargassum back to the surface. Seaweed Generation has a planned pilot with the government of Antigua, which is invested in protecting its tourism industry.

☆ Those Seaweed Blobs Headed for Florida? See How Big They Are.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Elena Shao | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +6 min

Scientists say they spotted more than 13 million tons of Sargassum, a yellowish-brown seaweed, drifting in the Atlantic Ocean last month — a record for the month of March. NORTH AMERICA March 2023 Atlantic Ocean The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt grew to an estimated 13.5 million metric tons of seaweed this spring. Tangles of the goopy, leafy seaweed have already begun to wash ashore beaches in southern Florida and Mexico. Floating mats of seaweed accumulate in the central Atlantic Ocean for much of the year. But during the spring and summer, patches of it are carried by ocean currents toward the Caribbean, eastern Florida and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast.

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