Volume 69

Sargassum Accumulation in the Caribbean Sea in Response to Anomalous Oceanographic and Meteorological Forcing in the North Atlantic Ocean


Authors
Johns, E.M., and R.H. Smith
Download PDF Open PDF in Browser

Other Information


Date: November, 2016


Pages: 199


Event: Proceedings of the Sixty eigth Annual Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute


City: Grand Cayman


Country: Cayman Islands

Abstract

During 2011, and again in 2014 - 2015, a number of Caribbean islands experienced the most severe accumulations of Sargassum seaweed ever recorded for the region. The unprecedented accumulation of Sargassum during 2011, 2014, and 2015 on the beaches of the Caribbean Sea also impacted equatorial West Africa and equatorial Brazil. The resulting socioeconomic impacts of the Sargassum accumulation spurred interest in the likelihood of similar events in the future, and in the prediction of such events for future planning and mitigation strategies. Several diverse hypotheses were put forward by the scientific community as to the source of the Sargassum, and why it seemed to be blooming in areas where it had never been observed before such as in the western tropical Atlantic.

PDF Preview