Sargassum seaweed

Tons of sargassum — seaweed — is floating far out in the Atlantic Ocean. It could begin coming ashore in the spring.

Researchers in Florida used satellite imagery and found exceptionally high amounts of sargassum seaweed in the Atlantic already. It will eventually drift toward the U.S.

Millions of tons of yellow-brown algae that have been swirling about in a region of the tropical Atlantic known as the Sargasso Sea are now breaking loose and landing on Florida shores

Last year’s sargassum bloom was so big it posed challenges on a hemispheric scale for marine ecosystems and coastal towns. The size of this upcoming summer’s fledgling bloom is setting records.

Potential pilot projects could explore converting sargassum into building material, types of “green” fuel and even an additive that could help reduce beach erosion.

A massive sargassum bloom inundated coastlines in Florida and the Caribbean earlier this year. Now, the University of South Florida is leading a $3.2 million grant to bridge a gap in tracking the algae from the open ocean to land.

Despite the good news, there has still been a profound increase in sargassum in the Atlantic, and thus Florida’s beaches, compared to the early years of the USF study.

A giant blob of seaweed, spanning 5,000 miles and weighing an estimated 6.1 million tons, threatens to blanket Florida beaches and Caribbean islands with smelly piles of decaying brown goop.

A record amount of seaweed is smothering Caribbean coasts from Puerto Rico to Barbados as tons of brown algae kill wildlife, choke the tourism industry and release toxic gases.

Anyone who's been to the beach in South Florida or the Caribbean in recent months has probably seen — or smelled — sargassum piled up on shore. The algae…

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