[Coral-List] Sargassum fluitans proliferation in the Lesser Antilles

[Alan.e.strong]

Isn't this likely to have its origin from the Orinoco River's outflow 
into the area from Venezuela??

Cheers,
Al

On 8/9/2011 12:30 PM, OMMM Association wrote:
> Dear all
>
> Since May, 2011, a huge amount of pelagic sargassum piles up along the
> coast of Martinique and Guadeloupe in the Lesser Antilles, and might
> affect probably all the islands in the area.
> Tons of algae enter the bays and cover the beaches. This accumulation of
> floating sargassum can also extends at the surface of the water for tens
> of meters in semi closed area, causing environmental problems to very
> coastal communities.
>
> We have not seen any comments since this began in May. The algae still
> accumulates and cause management problems for local authorities. This is
> also the marine turtles' nesting period, what has an incidence on local
> decision to remove the algae accumulated on the beaches. Those algae
> decomposed and toxic gaz might be produced, as H2S, which is quite low
> from the measures that have been done at the moment (0-3 ppm).
>
> Is there any information we could share on the origin of this
> proliferation of pelagic sargassum in the area?
> Who else in the Lesser Antilles or elsewhere face the same problem?
>
> We do airplane survey and fly over the coastal area to detect piles of
> sargassum away offshore looking at possible trajectories.
>
> We are interested in any satellite images that could detect those saragssum.
>
> Thanks
> Jean-Philippe Maréchal
>
> ****************************************************
> Dr Jean-Philippe Maréchal, DSci
> Director
> Observatoire du Milieu Marin Martiniquais
> 3 avenue Condorcet
> 97200 Fort de France
> Tel : +33 (5) 96 39 42 16
> http://www.ommm.org
>
> GDRI "Coral Reef Biodiversity" - CNRS
> Associate Director
> http://www.gdri-corail.org
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list

-- 
****<><  *******<><  *******<><  *******<><  *******
Alan E. Strong, Ph.D.
NOAA Coral Reef Watch, Consultant
Strong Research, Inc.&  IMSG
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NOAA Coral Reef Watch Program
  e-mail: Alan.E.Strong at noaa.gov
url: coralreefwatch.noaa.gov

E/RA31, SSMC1, Room 5311      WWB, Room 601-8
1335 East West Hwy            5200 Auth Rd
Silver Spring, MD 20910-3226  Camp Springs, MD
301-713-2857 x108             301-763-8102
            Fax: 301-713-3136
Cell: 410-490-6602