A 5,000-mile-wide blob of seaweed is headed for Florida

Scientists discover the world’s largest seaweed patch and warn about its effect on beaches and tourism.

Too much Sargassum can present challenges for marine life and particularly becomes problematic when it collects along coastlines and rots, as shown in Cancun a couple of years ago. Credits: Michael Owen

What stretches over 5,000 miles, weighs over 10 million tons, and circles around the Gulf of Mexico and the mid-Atlantic?

A variety of seaweed called sargassum.

The seaweed, a variety called sargassum, has long formed large blooms in the Atlantic, and scientists have been tracking massive accumulations since 2011. But this year’s sargassum mass could be the largest on record — spanning more than 5,000 miles from the coast of Africa to the Gulf of Mexico.

The blob is currently pushing west and will pass through the Caribbean and up into the Gulf of Mexico during the summer, with the seaweed expected to become prevalent on beaches in Florida around July, according to Dr. Brian Lapointe, a researcher at Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute.

With help from a pair of NASA satellites, scientists have identified what’s being called the most significant patch of seaweed ever seen.

Scientists say this bloom is one of the largest on record and fear that the seaweed invasions of beaches in the coming weeks and months could be…