Sargassum problem

[Genady]

You might know about unusual amounts of Sargassum appearing in Caribbean in recent years. Here, in the Southern Caribbean we also started to get it and it is not good at all. Here is how it looked this morning in a lagoon on the windward side of the island:

I don't know details but guess that this phenomenon is a consequence of the climate change, which causes changes in water temperature distribution and currents.

Any thoughts?

[MigL]

Not a new phenomenon.
The Sargasso Sea was discovered by Portuguese sailors in the Atlantic Ocean, and becomes visible whenthe organisms are removed from the reefs by rough weather.

I do so envy you.
We had a straight 12 hours of freezing rain overnight last night, and again, on and off today.
I'm sick and tired of scraping my car windows and windshield.
Not that I can go anywhere; roads are a mess and dangerous.

[Genady]

6 minutes ago, MigL said:

Not a new phenomenon.
The Sargasso Sea was discovered by Portuguese sailors in the Atlantic Ocean, and becomes visible whenthe organisms are removed from the reefs by rough weather.

Yes, but was not here until 4-5 years ago. It appears couple times a year now.

7 minutes ago, MigL said:

We had a straight 12 hours of freezing rain overnight last night, and again, on and off today.

Hmmm, I'll take Sargassum... 

[iNow]

28 minutes ago, MigL said:

I'm sick and tired of scraping my car windows and windshield.

Cover windshield with a piece of cardboard before the next storm. It’ll lift right off ice and all 

[sethoflagos]

1 hour ago, Genady said:

I don't know details but guess that this phenomenon is a consequence of the climate change, which causes changes in water temperature distribution and currents.

Any thoughts?

It looks like one or more of the floating varieties of Sargassum. The controlling factor is I understand nutrient supply to the historically low nutrient Sargasso sea. And this was thought to be dominated by mineral dust carried by the trade winds off the Sahara. 

Most likely recent increasing influx of nutrients may be from ecological changes occurring in the Amazon system and possibly our neck of the woods in sub-saharan West Africa. Coupled as you say with locally significant shifts in surface currents.

 

[Genady]

7 hours ago, sethoflagos said:

It looks like one or more of the floating varieties of Sargassum. The controlling factor is I understand nutrient supply to the historically low nutrient Sargasso sea. And this was thought to be dominated by mineral dust carried by the trade winds off the Sahara. 

Most likely recent increasing influx of nutrients may be from ecological changes occurring in the Amazon system and possibly our neck of the woods in sub-saharan West Africa. Coupled as you say with locally significant shifts in surface currents.

 

It certainly floating. The floating masses of it are clearly visible at a distance.

Sargasso Sea is more than thousand miles to the NE from us and against the Gulfstream. Our sargassum is not from there. 

The Sahara dust is well known here. The Amazon seems to be the culprit. I also saw a report saying that our sargassum floats here from Trinidad. It fits.

Edited February 24, 2023 by Genady

[Moontanman]

2 hours ago, Genady said:

It certainly floating. The floating masses of it are clearly visible at a distance.

Sargasso Sea is more than thousand miles to the NE from us and against the Gulfstream. Our sargassum is not from there. 

The Sahara dust is well known here. The Amazon seems to be the culprit. I also saw a report saying that our sargassum floats here from Trinidad. It fits.

We get large amounts of Sargassum weed here in the summer, a heavy onshore wind is the culprit for us. 

[Genady]

Here is more about an overall picture of the situation, and some ideas of what to do about it.

Quote

Nevertheless, Subramaniam argues that the world owes it to the Caribbean nations to help them to deal with the threat of sargassum, noting that they contribute least to the climate crisis yet are facing a direct impact. “I would like to figure out a financing model where we can actually have credit going to communities in Barbados for the carbon that is sequestered,” he says.

And sargassum’s ability to suck up carbon is behind what it probably the wildest and most ambitious plan to date: capture it using robots, bundle it up and sink it to the bottom of the sea.

Quote

Nevertheless, they fear it is only when the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt hits the affluent coasts of the Florida Keys or swamps the beaches of Cancún during spring break that significant investment will materialise. “Outside the Caribbean, no one is really talking about it,” says Harshini

 

The creeping threat of the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt | Oceans | The Guardian

[John Cuthber]

Can we haul it out, dry it and burn it for fuel?

[Phi for All]

1 hour ago, John Cuthber said:

Can we haul it out, dry it and burn it for fuel?

Apparently so: https://publications.iadb.org/en/experimental-evidence-use-biomethane-rum-distillery-waste-and-sargassum-seaweed-alternative-fuel

Quote

This paper presents an alternative to the current use of gasoline and diesel for transportation in Barbados. By relying on experimental evidence, it shows that biomethane emanating from the combination of Sargassum seaweed that is found on the seashores of the country with wastewater from rum distillery production can be used to produce an alternative transportation fuel.

 

[Moontanman]

Sargassum can also be used as fertilizer and when dried it makes a good insulator. 

[Genady]

In Bonaire, there is no need for a fertilizer or an insulator.

Just yesterday I heard from people who advocate doing nothing as a solution. They claim that, on one hand, all the work involved in collecting sargassum and cleaning the beaches damages the shoreline and costs money. On the other hand, based on experience in remote lagoons, the trapped sargassum deteriorates quite fast with our sun and wind, and the sargassum dust is just blown back to the sea.

[TheVat]

1 hour ago, Moontanman said:

Sargassum can also be used as fertilizer and when dried it makes a good insulator. 

Caution - it has a high arsenic content.  

1 hour ago, Genady said:

On the other hand, based on experience in remote lagoons, the trapped sargassum deteriorates quite fast with our sun and wind, and the sargassum dust is just blown back to the sea.

Depends on population density and winds near populated areas of shore.  The hydrogen sulphide releases from rotting are a problem some places.  

I guess systemic solutions aren't gonna fly, like getting soy farmers along the Congo to control fertilizer runoff.  

[Genady]

58 minutes ago, TheVat said:

Caution - it has a high arsenic content.  

Depends on population density and winds near populated areas of shore.  The hydrogen sulphide releases from rotting are a problem some places.  

Yes, solutions depend on local conditions. In our case, the entire windward shore, where the sargassum come to, is unpopulated. The whole population, all 22 thousand, live on the leeward side, where sargassum yet to be seen, and in the mountains.

[John Cuthber]

1 hour ago, TheVat said:

Caution - it has a high arsenic content.  

Thanks for the warning I will seek to avoid eating insulating materials.

[StringJunky]

40 minutes ago, John Cuthber said:

Thanks for the warning I will seek to avoid eating insulating materials.

Could the arsenic consumption problem not appear post-useful life, when it is buried and eventually leaches? Are we not kicking that can down the road for a future generation to deal with? 

Is this not the major issue we are not addressing: the consequences of our present day activities have tangible consequences for those not present in this time period?

[TheVat]

2 hours ago, John Cuthber said:

Thanks for the warning I will seek to avoid eating insulating materials.

See the post I was replying to.  It's use as a fertilizer was under discussion.  Arsenic leaches into soil and is absorbed, especially by rice.

[Moontanman]

18 hours ago, TheVat said:

See the post I was replying to.  It's use as a fertilizer was under discussion.  Arsenic leaches into soil and is absorbed, especially by rice.

How about the three sisters? 

[TheVat]

 

1 hour ago, Moontanman said:

How about the three sisters? 

DK what the AS uptake is with corn, beans, and squash.  I guess it's a case of agri experiment stations trying the sargassum out, seeing if there are elevated AS levels in various crops.  (and I would guess that different areas of sargassum have differing levels of AS, depending on what blows their way)  For the insulation use, I guess the important test would be flammability (or its ability to be treated with something cheap that makes it nonflammable) and moisture absorption (if used in walls or roofs)?   

[Genady]

From the latest local bi-weekly:

Quote

Sargassum update

Bonaire saw a Sargassum influx mid-February but with almost three kilometers of booms STINAPA was able to direct a lot of the incoming Sargassum to the extraction points at Lagun, Punta di Kalbas and Foodies. With heavy equipment the Sargassum was successfully removed out of the water and from the beaches.

The OP picture was taken in Lagun, one if the three collection / extraction areas. So, it does not represent the situation in general.

[TheVat]

Looks like Florida is now dealing with sargassum problems, with Vibrio bacteria added to the mix.  And plastic waste.  

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/03/sargassum-seaweed-algae-florida-bacteria-vibrio

My guess is that if they do have to close beaches in Florida, environmental awareness there will increase considerably.  The smell of rotting eggs and flesh-eating bacteria can concentrate the mind wonderfully.

[Genady]

For the moment, the Southern Caribbean is fine in this respect, i.e., no Sargassum to talk about. However, there is a new problem here, namely, Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD). It started in Florida about 9 years ago and finally got here, recently. See details here: Bonaire National Marine Park - Stinapa Bonaire. 

[Boltzmannbrain]

Sargassum has been spreading here in Canada too, mostly among the young people

[TheVat]

Do you think they can be kelped?

[Boltzmannbrain]

😂

I suppose it's possible