Sargassum Tracker

All about sargassum: satellite images, forecasts and outlooks.

Forecast for January 15, 2025 - Northeast winds 10-15 knots with gusts. Waves 5-7 feet for the Atlantic waters and 2-3 ft Caribbean side. High risk of rip currents for the northern beaches. A small craft advisory is in effect.

USF OOL Long Term Outlook

LAST UPDATE: Jan 06, 2024

Since 2011, large amounts of Sargassum seaweed appeared in the Caribbean Sea every summer except 2013, creating many environmental, ecological and economic problems in many regions. The seaweed originated from the tropical Atlantic, and is believed to be a result of climate variability and other natural and unnatural processes. Based on satellite observations and statistics of historical events, in early February 2018 the Optical Oceanography Lab developed the first 1-page Sargassum outlook bulletin for the Caribbean Sea. Since then, the bulletins have been generated and distributed to subscribers by the last day of the month. These monthly bulletins are also made available at (https://optics.marine.usf.edu/projects/saws.html)

Total Sargassum amount in the Gulf of Mexico, western Caribbean Sea, and eastern Caribbean Sea continued to remain negligible in December, but increased substantially in the western Atlantic and eastern Atlantic, with the increases way over our “slight increase” prediction. In particular, a 6-fold increase was found in the western Atlantic, a result of east-west transport and local growth. Compared to most previous years since 2011, Sargassum amount in the western Atlantic and eastern Atlantic as well as in the combined region all exceeded each region’s 75 percentile. During the last week of December, small amounts of Sargassum already reached the Lesser Antilles.

SARGASSUM ABUNDANCE INTENSITY

Details

Looking ahead: As in most previous years, January is expected to see increased Sargassum from December. Likewise, more Sargassum is expected to be around the Lesser Antilles and in the eastern Caribbean Sea. Sargassum in the western Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico will likely remain very low. However, because of the relatively high amounts of Sargassum in the tropical Atlantic, 2025 is likely another major Sargassum year. We will closely monitor and track Sargassum throughout the central Atlantic. (SaWS, https://optics.marine.usf.edu/projects/saws.html).

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Disclaimer

The information bulletin is meant to provide a general outlook of current bloom condition and future bloom probability for the Caribbean Sea. By no means should it be used for commercial purpose, or used for predicting bloom conditions for a specific location or beach. The authors of this bulletin, as well as Caricoos, USF and NASA, take no responsibility for improper use or interpretation of the bulletin. Any use of the image, data, or graph from this bulletin page in reports or publications should obtain permission from the USF OOL group.