Florida is facing an environmental disaster

A giant bed of Sargassum seaweed, twice the width of the continental United States, is steadily approaching the coast of Florida and other coastlines all along the Gulf of Mexico.

This natural blob threatens to “bury” the beaches under heaps of stinking heaps and ruin the tourist season. As scientists suggest, rotting algae have a harmful effect on human health.

Sargassum, a type of seaweed, has long formed large aggregations in the Atlantic Ocean, scientists have been tracking them since 2011 – from the coast of Africa to the Gulf of Mexico, informs CNN. The algal blooms started unusually early this year, says Dr. Brian Lapointe, researcher at Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. According to the TV channel, the gas released by rotting algae is toxic and can cause breathing problems.

Gradually moving westward, the kelp will cross the Caribbean Sea in the summer and rise into the Gulf of Mexico. On the beaches of Florida, this voluminous “guest” is expected to appear around July, says Lapointe:

“This is a completely new oceanographic phenomenon that creates such a problem – a really catastrophic problem – for tourism in the Caribbean where it accumulates on the beaches.”

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