\n\t\t\t\t\t\tA record-breaking amount of seaweed is expected to wash onto Florida beaches this summer, creating mounting concerns for coastal communities that depend on tourism.Scientists say the massive bloom, known as the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt, could reach nearly 40 million tons this year \u2014 potentially surpassing last year\u2019s record levels.Along Brevard County beaches, large patches of brown seaweed already line the shoreline.”It does not bother me at all \u2026 part of nature,” said Brevard resident Allen Lamotte while visiting the beach.While floating offshore, sargassum provides important habitat for fish, sea turtles and other marine life. But once the seaweed reaches shore and begins to decay, it can emit a strong odor that some residents and visitors find unpleasant.”Someone\u2019s coming to vacation \u2026 not so pretty \u2026 smells a little funky,” said Brevard resident Rhett Boyd.Boyd, a local surfer, said the seaweed can be a nuisance in the water but does not significantly affect his time on the waves.”It doesn’t affect surfing,” Boyd said. “So it\u2019s not a big deal.”Researchers say the blooms have steadily increased over the past decade.”It\u2019s just increasing every single year, and last year was the largest we\u2019ve ever recorded \u2014 almost double the previous record,” said Dr. Brian Barnes, a researcher at the University of South Florida\u2019s College of Marine Science. “This year it looks like it\u2019s going to at least match that, if not exceed it.”Barnes and his team are using satellite imagery and computer modeling to predict where the seaweed is most likely to wash ashore and which coastal regions could face the biggest impacts.But forecasting the exact landfall locations remains difficult.Ocean currents, wind patterns and even the angle of the coastline can influence where the seaweed accumulates, Barnes said.”The impacts are generally pretty patchy, so you may have an impact on one particular beach, but the beach a mile down the road is completely clear,” he said.Researchers hope improved forecasting will help local governments better prepare cleanup operations and reduce the economic impact on beach communities during the busy summer tourism season.Scientists say the sprawling seaweed belt has now become largely self-sustaining, meaning large blooms are likely to remain a recurring challenge for Florida and other coastal regions in the years ahead.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tBREVARD COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
A record-breaking amount of seaweed is expected to wash onto Florida beaches this summer, creating mounting concerns for coastal communities that depend on tourism.<\/p>\n
Scientists say the massive bloom, known as the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt, could reach nearly 40 million tons this year \u2014 potentially surpassing last year\u2019s record levels.<\/p>\n
Along Brevard County beaches, large patches of brown seaweed already line the shoreline.<\/p>\n
“It does not bother me at all \u2026 part of nature,” said Brevard resident Allen Lamotte while visiting the beach.<\/p>\n
While floating offshore, sargassum provides important habitat for fish, sea turtles and other marine life. But once the seaweed reaches shore and begins to decay, it can emit a strong odor that some residents and visitors find unpleasant.<\/p>\n
“Someone\u2019s coming to vacation \u2026 not so pretty \u2026 smells a little funky,” said Brevard resident Rhett Boyd.<\/p>\n
Boyd, a local surfer, said the seaweed can be a nuisance in the water but does not significantly affect his time on the waves.<\/p>\n
“It doesn’t affect surfing,” Boyd said. “So it\u2019s not a big deal.”<\/p>\n
Researchers say the blooms have steadily increased over the past decade.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s just increasing every single year, and last year was the largest we\u2019ve ever recorded \u2014 almost double the previous record,” said Dr. Brian Barnes, a researcher at the University of South Florida\u2019s College of Marine Science. “This year it looks like it\u2019s going to at least match that, if not exceed it.”<\/p>\n
Barnes and his team are using satellite imagery and computer modeling to predict where the seaweed is most likely to wash ashore and which coastal regions could face the biggest impacts.<\/p>\n
But forecasting the exact landfall locations remains difficult.<\/p>\n
Ocean currents, wind patterns and even the angle of the coastline can influence where the seaweed accumulates, Barnes said.<\/p>\n
“The impacts are generally pretty patchy, so you may have an impact on one particular beach, but the beach a mile down the road is completely clear,” he said.<\/p>\n
Researchers hope improved forecasting will help local governments better prepare cleanup operations and reduce the economic impact on beach communities during the busy summer tourism season.<\/p>\n
Scientists say the sprawling seaweed belt has now become largely self-sustaining, meaning large blooms are likely to remain a recurring challenge for Florida and other coastal regions in the years ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A record-breaking amount of seaweed is expected to wash onto Florida beaches this summer, creating mounting concerns for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285326,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-285325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}