A Giant Destructive Blob Is Headed For Florida, And It Stinks
It's not believed to be a deadly entity from space intent on consuming everything in its path.
author
RACHAEL FUNNELL
Feb 24, 2023 11:12 AM
Steel yourselves, Florida: something massive might be about to beach itself on your shores. Reports are forecasting that a gargantuan blob of sargassum seaweed has accumulated in the Atlantic Ocean and is headed for the US state, bringing with it millions of tons of odorous seaweed.
Sargassum is a genus of brown macroalgae (the fancy word for seaweed) that’s found in temperate and tropical oceans across the globe. It can form giant clumps like floating islands that stretch for miles, providing shelter and food to birds, fishes, sea turtles, and crustaceans.
These gargantuan seaweed islands are the exclusive home for some species like sargassum fish, and act like nursery grounds for juvenile animals including mahi mahi and turtles. Eventually, these islands lose their buoyancy and sink to the seafloor where they become a primary food source in the food webs of the deep sea, so they are an important habitat for many species across different zones of the water column.
However, in recent years sargassum has become increasingly nomadic as warming ocean temperatures have seen it blossom in unfamiliar waters. It’s also thought to have experienced a boom in growth as a result of climate change and nutrient runoff from the Amazon and Mississippi. Its emigration and boom in growth means that it can sap the nutrients and oxygen out of the reefs it engulfs, and things only get worse when it makes ground.
“Golden tides” like the sea of sargassum that’s currently floating towards Florida can stink to high heaven of a potent blend of rotten eggs (thank you hydrogen sulfide gas) topped off with a salty sea tang. As it decomposes, it releases its stored carbon into the air, contributing towards the planet’s already-too-high CO2 emissions.
https://www.iflscience.com/a-giant-destructive-blob-is-headed-for-florida-and-it-stinks-67696
