Environment | The sargassum seaweed belt in the Atlantic is still shrinking — good news for beach goers

You’ve planned the perfect beach day — good book, sun screen, cooler full of your favorite beverage — but as you approach the shore, you see them: massive clumps of brown spiky seaweed. Your heart sinks and your nose wrinkles.

While sargassum has clogged beaches and annoyed beachgoers across South Florida’s coast this spring — entire Facebook groups are dedicated to monitoring the seaweed — the mass in the Atlantic is still decreasing in size, according to scientists from the University of South Florida. And that should mean cleaner Florida beaches over the next few months.

The sargassum belt, which blooms in the Atlantic and then drifts westward, eventually reaching Florida beaches, shrank slightly during the month of June, which is consistent with predictions researchers made in May, after the heap became about 15% smaller than it had been in April.

The magnitude of the decrease, at 75%, exceeded USF scientists’ expectations. For the next few months, USF scientists predict the sargassum amount in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea will either continue falling or remain stable.

“Very little Sargassum was found by the end of June in the Straits of Florida and along the east coast of Florida,” said the report. As for the next few months, Florida’s outlook is looking up. By the end of June there was very little Sargassum in the Gulf of Mexico and western Caribbean Sea — two areas that send the seaweed along Florida’s east coast  on the Gulf Stream.

“This trend may continue in the next 2-3 months, which should be good news to the residents living in the Florida Keys and east coast of Florida,” said the report.

USF scientists measure the sargassum belt by blending satellite imagery from the U.S. Geological Survey and NASA. This method reveals where the seaweed is and how dense it is becoming.

The seaweed is an unwelcome sight at the beach, not only because it is annoying to swim and walk through, but also because it releases hydrogen sulfide as it decomposes, emitting a rotten egg smell.

Sargassum may not stop stinking up beaches in South Florida anytime soon, but the mass in the Atlantic is reducing in size, so you don’t have to cancel your trip to the beach — not yet, anyway.