USF / NASA Alert: Second consecutive monthly doubling of Sargassum ! The SEAS Program leverages Landsat Satellite Imagery in order to identify floating Sargassum mats, and then factors in local wind/surface currents in order to provide a forecast. Never, said Gigi Rodriguez, a beachgoer trying to avoid the soggy situation on Dania Beach. Puerto Rico Seaweed Problem [2023]: Everything You Need to Know! Communiqu de Presse tlchargeable (format PDF) en Franais. (1939), Quantitative observations on the pelagic Sargassum vegetation of the western North Atlantic, Bull. Unfortunately their forecast for 2022 was accurate. It's too early to know how much seaweed will reach Florida's beaches, but it has shown up in varying degrees and. FAU researchers have shown seasonal Sargassum in Florida and elsewhere in the tropical Atlantic have grown worse in recent years because of increasing nitrogen and phosphorus from discharges from the Congo, Amazon and Mississippi rivers, atmospheric deposition from Saharan dust, and biomass burning of vegetation in central and South Africa. "Nitrogen appears to be increasing in the Atlantic basin, driving these blooms,"Brian Lapointe, a research professor at FAU-Harbor Branch in Fort Pierce. Remote Sens., 44, 36193625. As the days get warmer, the presence of sargassum is expected to increase. 7/2 Update A seething tangle of floating trouble is massing for a potential summer assault on Florida beaches as a vast forest of sargassum grows in record amounts in the Atlantic Ocean. TheCaribbean Sea keepsgifting Central Florida's beaches with moundsof mushy, stinkybrown seaweed. Sargassum seaweed in Fort Lauderdale is taken by truck to be composted and turned into soil. The satellite-based model shows the sargassum currently making its way from the eastern Caribbean to South Florida. People dont like it because its unsightly, said Mahady, the Boynton Beach ocean rescue chief. Last month, strong winds blew a thick layer of dust from the Sahara Desert westward over the Atlantic Ocean. Milledge, J. J., B. V. Nielsen, and D. Bailey (2015). Environ., 183:356-367. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2016.04.019. Cozumel SEAWEED Problem (2022): A Detailed Guide!! Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. This is merely a collection of these cameras to help people see the local conditions of the beaches. It may be remotely connected to everything including climate change and human activities, but the most plausible theory is that prior to 2011, in the year of 2010, there was a stronger than usual wind and surface ocean current that brought some Sargassum from the Sargasso Sea to the tropic Atlantic, said Hu. But 2018 was among the worst in Florida, Lapointe said, adding that this year could rival that year's bloom. But during the turtle nesting season from March 1 through Oct. 31, the cleaners have to stay below the high tide line. Inst., 64:6-8. Or find him on Twitter:@JWayEnviroor on Facebook:www.facebook.com/jim.waymer, Support local journalismand local journalists like me. According to the University of South Florida's "Outlook of 2020 Sargassum ," the . MS Thesis, University of South Florida, 118pp. Large quantities of sargassum are again likely to wash up on the beaches of Mexico's Caribbean coast in 2019, according to an ocean researcher from the National Autonomous University (UNAM). Sargassum has impacted the Caribbean in so many ways. %PDF-1.7 Dr. Chuanmin Hu works at the University of South Florida and has been tracking sargassum over a decade. Hydrogen sulfide has a very unpleasant odor, like rotten eggs. Its current biomass is estimated to be from 1.7 . Is there still a seaweed problem in Punta Cana in 2023? Drone footage captured in Delray Beach by Larry Richardson today (April 21) showed the scale of the problem. Sargassum Outlook Bulletin, December 2022 Sargassum Outlook Bulletin, November 2022 Sargassum Outlook Bulletin, October 2022 Aruba SEAWEED Problem [2023]: Everything You Need To Know!! The University of South Florida Satellite-based Sargassum Watch System has predicted 2018 will be a major bloom year, which is already impacting the Caribbean. Pelagic Sargassum seaweed (Image courtesy of Tracy Villareal) is a brown macroalgae floating on the ocean surface. Record-high Sargassum quantities for December were observed, approximately double the amount recorded in November (of note, the November quantity reported in the previous bulletin was revised downward after data reprocessing). ssI|$n/|$3z(4$'v2e.:X7O:,snxf `90$8sG2 P~ R d~}"Qts4DvbRqqt|myeU8_-&O3qVqym We had moguls of it, said town councilmember Bobbie Lindsay about the sargassum. Punta Cana, along with other Caribbean countries, is facing a sargassum problem since 2015. We know that Punta Cana and other Caribbean countries faced their worst sargassum season in 2022. However, once it reaches the beach, it begins to rot. The recent stringy mess on Brevard County beaches hearkens back to the widespread Sargassum algae blooms that hit county beaches in 2014, 2015, 2018 and last year. Researchers at NASA and the University of South Florida have confirmed their earlier warning of a growing bloom of sargassum seaweed, after satellite imagery captured the largest-ever April growth of the sea-surface algae. Especially, the sargassum problem is worst in Punta Cana in the months of July and August. It is predicted that the concentration of sargassum would increase continuously from April to October with an increase in the sea temperature, as it does every year. Hu, C., B. These mysterious 'devices' keep washing up on Floridas beaches. Almost all Caribbean countries are expected to face this problem in 2023, as they did in 2022. Beaches up and down the Central Florida coast, at least from . Visit this Facebook group to check the current sargassum conditions in Punta Cana. The SEAS team has also worked with several government entities and private organizations on several different projects in hopes of further understanding the nature of Sargassum seaweed and its movement and migration patterns. But in mass quantities, it chokes life from canals, clogs boat propellers, and is a killjoy at the beach, piling up several feet deep like a rotting bog emitting hydrogen sulfide as it decomposes. Remote Sens. Palm Beach, like many towns, cleans its public beaches with mechanical raking devices. "The Sargassum amount will likely continue to increase in the following months, more Sargassum will be found in the (Gulf. Environ., 113, 21182129. This page provides links to Sargassum forecast or outlook bulletins (see bottom of this page), which are updated routinely. But in excess, the stuff annoys tourists and those who's livelihoods depend upon them, by fouling the beaches beauty and air. Hu says climate change could be at play as warmer waters could be causing higher algal blooms. Sargassum Monitoring 2022 - Google My Maps Official map of sargassum invasion 2022 Property of https://sargassummonitoring.com/ Official map of sargassum invasion 2022 Property of. View interactive maps and detailed reports on beaches located in Quintana Roo. Sargassum in the Florida Keys By Helen Briggs BBC News A floating mass of seaweed stretching from West Africa to the Gulf of Mexico is now the biggest seaweed bloom in the world, according to. in the Gulf of Mexico and tropical Atlantic. International tourism to the country as a whole surpassed pre-pandemic levels in the first half of 2022, with 10.26 million visitors from January to June, 1.5% higher than the 10.11 million . AccordingtoReportur,theamountofsargassumfloatingintheCentralAtlanticOceaninNovember2022increasedtoanastounding6milliontonsbyDecember2022. If you are looking for a sargassum-free beach vacation or to enjoy your vacation with complete peace of mind, Bayahibe town is undoubtedly one of the best places to visit near Punta Cana. This year, though, forecasts predict there will be less of the stinky seaweed than in the previous two years. Since then, the bulletins have been generated and distributed to subscribers by the last day of the month. When this is clicked, a KML file is generated for that image. Two examples are given below. 1 0 obj [email protected], Gustavo Goni Isla Mujeres SEAWEED Problem [2023]: Everything You Need to Know! Information from the Optical Oceanography Laboratory of the University of South Florida indicates that Sargassum in the Caribbean Sea has increased by more than 100% since December 2021. . Hotels in Punta Cana are investing heavily in cutting-edge technology and skilled manpower to tackle this problem. In black are areas with not enough data. A user may then select a specific date on the calendar, or use the animate function to browse through the image sequence quickly to determine the date of interest. But not this year. Hu, C (2009), A novel ocean color index to detect floating algae in the global oceans, Remote Sens. According to Reportur, the amount of sargassum floating in the Central Atlantic Ocean in November 2022 increased to an astounding 6 million tons by December 2022. Mar. Bayahibes beaches are more relaxed than Punta Canas, with fewer tourists and far fewer vendors trying to sell you souvenirs. Many people visiting the Brevard County coastline in recent days may have noticed lots of stinky seaweed that has washed up onshore. Updated: May 22, 2021 / 11:08 AM EDT. Will there be seaweed in Punta Cana in 2023? She coversreal estate and how growth affects South Florida's environment. The beaches on Key Biscayne are regularly inundated with blankets of sargassum seaweed. Sargassum is a lifeline for fish nurseries, hungry migratory birds and sea turtle hatchlings seeking shelter in its buoyant saltwater blooms. At first blush it might seem like sargassum is just a big mess, causing nothing but work and problems. To help accomdate for Quintana Roo South and Tulum forecasts. In 2023, the estimation is not clear as it's not possible to see it on the ocean from satellites yet. It is produced thousands of miles away in the Sargasso Sea, but it washes up on the shores of Caribbean countries due to ocean currents. In June 2021 (shown above) they found it in record-high amounts in the Caribbean, central west Atlantic Ocean, and Gulf of Mexico. JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. This coming summer, our coastline could be extra stinky on the First Coast thanks to an annual phenomenon. Help support our local journalism, subscribe today. According to Reportur, the amount of sargassum floating in the Central Atlantic Ocean in November 2022 increased to an astounding 6 million tons by December 2022. Beaches with the highest seaweed count include Playa del Carmen, Tulum, and some points between Cancun and Puerto Morelos. Cette dcision concerne Saint-Barthlmy, Saint-Martin, la Guadeloupe et la Martinique. This is a record-breaking number, and it indicates that massive waves of sargassum will land on the beaches of Punta . Mapping and quantifying Sargassum distribution and coverage in the Central West Atlantic using MODIS observations. sargassum seaweed 1 year ago Save Heading down to Marathon and Key West May 8th for the week to get married and honeymoon and cant wait! Disclaimer: This is an experimental product and still subject to validation by NOAA/AOML, NOAA/CoastWatch/OceanWatch, and USF. Here we show a few photographs that reveal the serious nature of the problem. To facilitate visualization and navigation, the imagery products are divided into different geographic regions, for example Central Atlantic, Eastern Caribbean, Western Gulf of Mexico, Bermuda, etc. Source On the Dominican Republics northern coast, sargassum is almost non-existent. Sargassummonitering.com is a website that keeps an eye on the current sargassum level on the beaches. Anegada changed to Puerto Rico East and northern image added. Although the seaweed itself cannot harm your health, tiny sea creatures that live in Sargassum can cause Bingham Oceanog. - 6p.m. Robert Webster ingeniously navigated the development of the SEAS Program. These monthly bulletins are also made available at the bottom of this page. Bio. Locals and tourists take photos and videos of the various beaches in Punta Cana and share them in this Facebook group. <> Under each images icon in the VAS (previous tab) there is a small GE button in the lower right corner. 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