Sargasso.

[chillyinCanada]

Actually, most of this Nat Geo article is about the area known as the Sargasso Sea. Farther down in the articles it mentions “..the weeds explosions in the Gulf, the Caribbean, Brazil, and even Africa…”

Even farther down, it says “No one knows why these blooms happen. Lapointe thinks climate change may be altering ocean currents, carrying sargassum to places it’s rarely been seen – from West Africa to the northern coast of Brazil. Another hypothesis is that phosphorus rich, windblown dust from the Sahara that used to be blown across the Atlantic is now settling out to sea, triggering offshore blooms.”

In the Nippon Foundation’s Nereus Program’s March 7, 2019 article on Ecology/Oceanography/Extreme Events, by Nereus Research Associate Colette Wabnitz with Jimena Eyzaguirre and Ravidya Burrowes (ESSA Technologies Ltd), the authors state:

“Recent evidence indicates the algae did not drift in from the Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic as was first put forward, but instead originates from the equatorial Atlantic. Sargassum are a common feature in the Sargasso Sea and therefore the area has always been considered as the principal source of the seaweed. However, satellite imagery and ocean current information point to the North Equatorial Recirculation Region as the origin of recent mass blooms – north of the mouth of the Amazon, between Brazil and West Africa, in an area not previously associated with Sargassum growth.” It further states that the sargassum coming up from the south is Sargassum natans I, and the species of Sargassum in the Sargasso Sea is S. natans VIII.

The Sargassum Mass-Bloom of 2018 - Nereus Program - The Nippon Foundation

As an aside, I quit relying on National Geographic Magazine for accurate information many years ago. The National Geographic Research Foundation’s publications are usually reliable, but the Nat Geo magazine… not so much.

Yes, due to an article written on its pages not too long ago, I've realized that it is not the authority that it used to be. Damn shame that.

 

[chillyinCanada]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Two "Sargasso" threads have been merged

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[mcpowell]

Any update on how the Southern and Eastern beaches of Coz are fairing with the Sargasso? Has it cleared any in the last month? When we were there in May, the beaches around Chen Rio were thick with it.

 

[Dave Dillehay]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Two "Sargasso" threads have been merged

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The most significant post/photo got lost in the chatter. That is why I posted it separately. Oh well!

Dave Dillehay

 

[Snoweman]

The most significant post/photo got lost in the chatter. That is why I posted it separately. Oh well!

Dave Dillehay

Thank you, Dave. I missed the merge and thought I had posted the same thing twice in the same thread. The older I get, the more I fear Alzheimer's.

 

[chillyinCanada]

The most significant post/photo got lost in the chatter. That is why I posted it separately. Oh well!

Dave Dillehay

Page 1 post 9

 

[Seaweed Doc]

For clarification, it's the Sargasso Sea and Sargassum is the seaweed.

The weed isn't called Sargasso and the body of water is not Sargassum Sea.

 

[El Graduado]

For clarification, it's the Sargasso Sea and Sargassum is the seaweed.

The weed isn't called Sargasso and the body of water is not Sargassum Sea.

Thanks, Doc. I think part of the problem is that Sargassum is called "sargazo" in Spanish, which is what everybody hears in Cozumel, and Sargasso and sargazo sound alike.

 

[Snoweman]

For clarification, it's the Sargasso Sea and Sargassum is the seaweed.

The weed isn't called Sargasso and the body of water is not Sargassum Sea.

What is it?

 

[Seaweed Doc]

Thanks, Doc. I think part of the problem is that Sargassum is called "sargazo" in Spanish, which is what everybody hears in Cozumel, and Sargasso and sargazo sound alike.

I wondered about that. Thanks.