Sea Weed

[nlt46]

I was in Galveston in late April and the beaches were all covered with sea weed. Sure, it has been years since I went swimming there, but this was new to me. Are the beaches now all covered or was it the time of year we went? What caused that? It isn't as much fun with all the sea weed as on a nice clean sandy beach. Thanks for the info.

 

Nancy

[ssb]

I was in Galveston in late April and the beaches were all covered with sea weed. Sure, it has been years since I went swimming there, but this was new to me. Are the beaches now all covered or was it the time of year we went? What caused that? It isn't as much fun with all the sea weed as on a nice clean sandy beach. Thanks for the info.

 

Nancy

 

No it floats over from Africa. I have seen massive pods of it and scattered partches of seaweed all across the Atlantic ocean on transatlantic cruises! It is on beaches from Key West along entire Gulf Coast and Mexico. It is not just Texas thing! Mother nature and the winds and currents.

[ssb]

Double post sorry

[Galveston Cruiser]

It is called Sargassum and is an ecological feeding system for marine life. It does come from the coast of Africa and we have seen huge quantities in the Atlantic in Spring. It covers beaches from South Beach in Miami to South Padre Island.

Unfortunately people want it gone so the beach is scraped, but it helps build up dunes and provides marine food. I don't think we should mess with mother nature; allow the dunes to grow:)

[Cruisingzs]

Just at the Texas coast this weekend and it was clean as a whistle. It usually comes in around April and clears out arouns September

[nlt46]

Since it is Mother Nature, why was it not there 20 years ago? I understand eco systems, but I never saw it way back then. I guess when I was younger, I just didn't notice, perhaps or is it new?

 

Nancy

[Galveston Cruiser]

It was there. Always has been.

It use to pile up and become dunes until tourists started complaining so now the beaches are scraped.

Personally, I believe that is a big mistake:(

[ssb]

Since it is Mother Nature, why was it not there 20 years ago? I understand eco systems, but I never saw it way back then. I guess when I was younger, I just didn't notice, perhaps or is it new?

 

Nancy

 

It's always been there!

It is an ancient weed!

Its drift in the oceans is relative to mother nature's

winds, currents and storms.

The sizes of its pods are subject to temperatures and the nutrients

it feed on.

 

The nature and extent of its range and coverage each year varies

greatly. The entire Gulf Coast is affected better or worse

to certain degrees depending on the above.

 

The Sargasso Sea

The main source of the sargassum found floating throughout the Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean comes from the Sargasso Sea. This "sea" is a two-million-square-mile chunk of the Atlantic Ocean stretching from the West Indies to the Azores.

Although the sea is bordered on all sides by circulating currents - the Gulf Stream to the west and north, the Canary Current to the east and the North Equatorial Current to the south.

In its interior lies a vast calm. It is here where huge patches of sargassum collect en masse. The weed is drawn to the center of the sea by two different methods: the earth's rotation and the process of evaporation. The rotation of the earth spins the currents to the center of the sea, which carry the weed along with them. And, since the water in the center of the sea is relatively stable, it evaporates faster, creating small surface currents that bring in water to replace that lost to evaporation.

Unfortunately, these same currents can concentrate all the debris and pollution introduced by man, and no one is sure how these pollutants might affect the sargassum. "Drifting in the ocean, sargassum has the opportunity to encounter many different things - debris and pollutants - and we don't know what effect they have on the sargassum or the animals living on and around it," says Franks.

One thing we do know: There's an awful lot of it out there.

[nlt46]

Thank you all so much. I guess the memory is going. I remember long clean beaches where we could sit and build castles. This year there wasn't much sand castle building room due to the sea weed or smaller beaches.

I felt sure that I could get the answer here and I did.

 

Nancy

[ssb]

Thank you all so much. I guess the memory is going. I remember long clean beaches where we could sit and build castles. This year there wasn't much sand castle building room due to the sea weed or smaller beaches.

I felt sure that I could get the answer here and I did.

 

Nancy

 

See the beaches today!!!

 

See galveston.com

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[Galveston Cruiser]

Thank you all so much. I guess the memory is going. I remember long clean beaches where we could sit and build castles. This year there wasn't much sand castle building room due to the sea weed or smaller beaches.

Nancy

 

Smaller :eek: We have 32 miles of beach on the Gulf side!

 

If you were on the beach at high tide there is less width, but at low tide, lots of wide beach area.

With a north wind, the water line will be past the rock groins. Kind of weird walking on the beach even with the end of the groin:)