If you’re planning a visit to one of South Florida’s many seashores this summer season, there is a rising concern to bear in mind of: a large floating blob of seaweed.
While sargassum seaweed just isn’t uncommon for the Atlantic Ocean, Professor Chuanmin Hu from the University of South Florida informed NBC affiliate WPTV-TV that it’s the scale of the bloom — about 1,100 sq. miles — that might probably make this 12 months’s arrival record-setting.
“It’s big for this time of year,” Hu mentioned. “It’s really big. It’s bigger than 2018.”
The scent from the sargassum has been likened to “rotten eggs,” and Hu mentioned that the pungent odor might be irritating for beachgoers, particularly these with respiration circumstances like bronchial asthma.
“People like to gripe about it,” mentioned Doug Yoakum, a lifeguard on Lake Worth Beach. “It’ll start stinking, and there’s a lot of stuff that lives in it, little fish, jellyfish.”
Some cities, equivalent to Lake Worth Beach, have employed a agency that rakes the dried seaweed and buries it to strengthen dunes.
The blob is anticipated to arrive on South Florida seashores this June.