Page 10 - Newspaper RZ Times
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27 August 2025 | Wed THE RZ TIMES Issue 007
CLIMATE
31 million tons of supercharged seaweed is creeping toward
beaches in Florida and around the Caribbean Source : CNN NEWS
The Atlantic Ocean has inundation events all around have been altered by the that rely on tourism to to LaPointe.
a toxic seaweed problem. the Caribbean region, the toxic and putrid invasion. fuel their economy. Rising The sargassum bloom
Floating in brown islands of Gulf, as well as the South In the water, it’s home to ocean temperatures due itself is not a new
algae, this year’s sargassum Florida region,” explained larvae and other organisms to human-caused climate phenomenon. It’s long
bloom has already broken its provided a home to species
own size record by millions from sea turtles to fish
of tons — and the growing as winds and tides push
season isn’t done yet. it from the coast of West
Now stretching across Africa toward Brazil, up
some 5,500 miles of ocean, into the Caribbean and the
the annual bloom is more Gulf of Mexico. “Sargassum
than just an eyesore: has been around for eons.
Sargassum hurts ecosystems Colombus ran into it right
and economies wherever in the Sargasso Sea,” La
its overgrown arms reach. Pointe told CNN. “But what
And they are spreading into we are seeing now is above
Florida’s waterways, coating and beyond what we had
marinas and beaches in the historically.”
Miami area. Sargassum’s growth is
“Sargassum goes from also being driven by an
being a very beneficial excess of nitrogen in the
resource of the North water, LaPointe said — and
Atlantic to becoming what that’s a key factor behind
we refer to as … a harmful this year’s monster bloom.
algal bloom, when it comes LaPointe, who has studied that can irritate the skin of change have spurred Some nitrogen may
ashore in excessive biomass,” the seaweed for decades. any passing swimmers. this sargassum surplus, be coming from the
said Brian LaPointe, a For more than a As it rots on shore, it supercharging the seaweed. atmosphere, carried in the
research professor at Florida decade, Atlantic coastal emits harmful gases— an In April, the University of air from the burning of
Atlantic University’s Harbor communities have been infamous stench. It’s a South Florida estimated this fossil fuels or dust Sahara.
Branch Oceanographic inundated by more and blight on beaches that year’s bloom is already at 31 Desert.
Institute. more sargassum. Images repels tourists during million tons — “40% more” But there’s one major
“What we have seen of white sand beaches the high-travel season, than the previous record source: agricultural
since 2011 are excessive stretching into azure waters ultimately hurting towns from June 2022, according fertilizers heartland as well.
Global sea levels are rising faster and faster. It spells
catastrophe for coastal towns and cities Source : CNN NEWS
For around 2,000 years, said Benjamin Hamlington, globally, and as much as 10 level rise by 2100, he told burning fossil fuels, and as
global sea levels varied a research scientist in the to 12 inches in the US. Past CNN; it could also take water heats up it expands.
little. That changed in the Sea Level and Ice Group 2050, however, things get hundreds of years to reach Heat in the oceans and
20th century. They started at NASA’s Jet Propulsion very fuzzy. “We have such a that level. Scientists simply atmosphere is also driving
rising and have not stopped Laboratory. While other huge range of uncertainty,” don’t know enough yet to melting of the Greenland
since — and the pace is climate signals fluctuate, said Dirk Notz, head of project what will happen. and Antarctic ice sheets,
accelerating. global sea level has a sea ice at the University of What scientists are crystal which together hold enough
Scientists are scrambling “persistent rise,” he told Hamburg. “The numbers clear about is the reason fresh water to raise global
to understand what this sea levels by around 213
means for the future just feet. Melting ice sheets have
as President Trump strips driven roughly two-thirds
back agencies tasked with of longer-term sea level rise,
monitoring the oceans. although last year — the
Since 1993, satellites planet’s hottest on record
have kept careful watch over — the two factors flipped,
the world’s oceans, allowing making ocean warming the
scientists a clear view of how main driver.
they are behaving. What they It’s likely that an increase
have revealed is alarming. of about 3 feet is already
Sea level rise was locked in, Notz said,
unexpectedly high last year, because “we have pushed
according to a recent NASA the system too hard.” The
analysis of satellite data. big question is, how quickly
More concerning, however, will it happen?
is the longer-term trend. Ice sheets are the
The rate of annual sea level biggest uncertainty, as it’s
rise has more than doubled not clear how fast they’ll
over the past 30 years, react as the world heats
resulting in the global sea CNN. It spells trouble for are just getting higher and for the rise: human-caused up — whether they’ll melt
level increasing 4 inches the future. Scientists have higher and higher very global warming. steadily or reach a tipping
since 1993. a good idea how much quickly.” Oceans absorb roughly point and rapidly collapse.
“It’s like we’re putting average sea level will rise The world could easily 90% of the excess heat From studying things like
our foot on the gas pedal,” by 2050 — around 6 inches see an extra 3 feet of sea primarily produced by ice cores and sediments.
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