Multiscale distribution patterns of pelagic rafts of sargasso (Sargassum spp.) in the Mexican Caribbean (2014–2020)

As the biomass of pelagic Sargassum spp. increased across the North Atlantic equatorial recirculation region from 2011 onwards, massive rafts of sargasso appeared in the Western Caribbean in 2015, 2018, 2019, and 2020. These events raised concerns regarding their negative consequences on the environ...

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Published in:Frontiers in Marine Science
Main Authors: Uribe-Martínez, Abigail, Berriel-Bueno, Diana, Chávez, Valeria, Cuevas, Eduardo, Almeida, Karla L., Fontes, Jassiel V. H., van Tussenbroek, Brigitta I., Mariño-Tapia, Ismael, Liceaga-Correa, Maria de los Ángeles, Ojeda, Elena, Castañeda-Ramírez, D. Gerardo, Silva, Rodolfo
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: Frontiers Media SA 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.920339
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.920339/full
id crfrontiers:10.3389/fmars.2022.920339
record_format openpolar
spelling crfrontiers:10.3389/fmars.2022.920339 2024-03-03T08:47:09+00:00 Multiscale distribution patterns of pelagic rafts of sargasso (Sargassum spp.) in the Mexican Caribbean (2014–2020) Uribe-Martínez, Abigail Berriel-Bueno, Diana Chávez, Valeria Cuevas, Eduardo Almeida, Karla L. Fontes, Jassiel V. H. van Tussenbroek, Brigitta I. Mariño-Tapia, Ismael Liceaga-Correa, Maria de los Ángeles Ojeda, Elena Castañeda-Ramírez, D. Gerardo Silva, Rodolfo 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.920339 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.920339/full unknown Frontiers Media SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Frontiers in Marine Science volume 9 ISSN 2296-7745 Ocean Engineering Water Science and Technology Aquatic Science Global and Planetary Change Oceanography journal-article 2022 crfrontiers https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.920339 2024-02-03T23:18:22Z As the biomass of pelagic Sargassum spp. increased across the North Atlantic equatorial recirculation region from 2011 onwards, massive rafts of sargasso appeared in the Western Caribbean in 2015, 2018, 2019, and 2020. These events raised concerns regarding their negative consequences on the environment, local income, and human wellbeing. As adequate monitoring and analysis tools are needed for designing in-water and on-beach control strategies to reduce potential negative impacts, more robust and spatially explicit information is needed in order to improve sargasso management and focus restoration efforts. In this paper, we offer a spatiotemporal multiscale description of sargasso distribution and dynamics for 2014–2020 in the Mexican Caribbean: (1) for the entire region (millions of km 2 ); (2) at the local scale (thousands of km 2 ) evaluating the dynamics inside the reef lagoon at Puerto Morelos, Mexico; and finally, (3) specific beach observations (hundreds of km 2 ) derived from data on beach cleaning volumes. Fifteen areas in the Mexican Caribbean, with different sargasso dispersions and on-shore accumulations, were evaluated. The areas around Tulum, Solidaridad, and Puerto Morelos have the most extreme and most frequent episodes but also exhibited the greatest seasonal variability. Extreme sargasso presence can occur in the Western Caribbean in any season, albeit with increasing coverage and recurrence in the summer. Images from a coastal video monitoring station at Puerto Morelos showed that massive sargasso beaching was associated with low energy conditions ( Hs < 0.25 m, wind speed<4 m/s, neap tide), while non-accumulation of sargasso on the beach occurred under high energy conditions ( Hs > 0.4 m , wind speed = 8 m/s, spring tide). Time-series analyses of sargasso beaching showed different periods of historic maximum sargasso coverage over July–October 2018 and others in January–February 2019. Wind and wave regimes influenced sargasso in distinct ways, depending on the coastal ... Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Frontiers (Publisher) Frontiers in Marine Science 9
institution Open Polar
collection Frontiers (Publisher)
op_collection_id crfrontiers
language unknown
topic Ocean Engineering
Water Science and Technology
Aquatic Science
Global and Planetary Change
Oceanography
spellingShingle Ocean Engineering
Water Science and Technology
Aquatic Science
Global and Planetary Change
Oceanography
Uribe-Martínez, Abigail
Berriel-Bueno, Diana
Chávez, Valeria
Cuevas, Eduardo
Almeida, Karla L.
Fontes, Jassiel V. H.
van Tussenbroek, Brigitta I.
Mariño-Tapia, Ismael
Liceaga-Correa, Maria de los Ángeles
Ojeda, Elena
Castañeda-Ramírez, D. Gerardo
Silva, Rodolfo
Multiscale distribution patterns of pelagic rafts of sargasso (Sargassum spp.) in the Mexican Caribbean (2014–2020)
topic_facet Ocean Engineering
Water Science and Technology
Aquatic Science
Global and Planetary Change
Oceanography
description As the biomass of pelagic Sargassum spp. increased across the North Atlantic equatorial recirculation region from 2011 onwards, massive rafts of sargasso appeared in the Western Caribbean in 2015, 2018, 2019, and 2020. These events raised concerns regarding their negative consequences on the environment, local income, and human wellbeing. As adequate monitoring and analysis tools are needed for designing in-water and on-beach control strategies to reduce potential negative impacts, more robust and spatially explicit information is needed in order to improve sargasso management and focus restoration efforts. In this paper, we offer a spatiotemporal multiscale description of sargasso distribution and dynamics for 2014–2020 in the Mexican Caribbean: (1) for the entire region (millions of km 2 ); (2) at the local scale (thousands of km 2 ) evaluating the dynamics inside the reef lagoon at Puerto Morelos, Mexico; and finally, (3) specific beach observations (hundreds of km 2 ) derived from data on beach cleaning volumes. Fifteen areas in the Mexican Caribbean, with different sargasso dispersions and on-shore accumulations, were evaluated. The areas around Tulum, Solidaridad, and Puerto Morelos have the most extreme and most frequent episodes but also exhibited the greatest seasonal variability. Extreme sargasso presence can occur in the Western Caribbean in any season, albeit with increasing coverage and recurrence in the summer. Images from a coastal video monitoring station at Puerto Morelos showed that massive sargasso beaching was associated with low energy conditions ( Hs < 0.25 m, wind speed<4 m/s, neap tide), while non-accumulation of sargasso on the beach occurred under high energy conditions ( Hs > 0.4 m , wind speed = 8 m/s, spring tide). Time-series analyses of sargasso beaching showed different periods of historic maximum sargasso coverage over July–October 2018 and others in January–February 2019. Wind and wave regimes influenced sargasso in distinct ways, depending on the coastal ...
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Uribe-Martínez, Abigail
Berriel-Bueno, Diana
Chávez, Valeria
Cuevas, Eduardo
Almeida, Karla L.
Fontes, Jassiel V. H.
van Tussenbroek, Brigitta I.
Mariño-Tapia, Ismael
Liceaga-Correa, Maria de los Ángeles
Ojeda, Elena
Castañeda-Ramírez, D. Gerardo
Silva, Rodolfo
author_facet Uribe-Martínez, Abigail
Berriel-Bueno, Diana
Chávez, Valeria
Cuevas, Eduardo
Almeida, Karla L.
Fontes, Jassiel V. H.
van Tussenbroek, Brigitta I.
Mariño-Tapia, Ismael
Liceaga-Correa, Maria de los Ángeles
Ojeda, Elena
Castañeda-Ramírez, D. Gerardo
Silva, Rodolfo
author_sort Uribe-Martínez, Abigail
title Multiscale distribution patterns of pelagic rafts of sargasso (Sargassum spp.) in the Mexican Caribbean (2014–2020)
title_short Multiscale distribution patterns of pelagic rafts of sargasso (Sargassum spp.) in the Mexican Caribbean (2014–2020)
title_full Multiscale distribution patterns of pelagic rafts of sargasso (Sargassum spp.) in the Mexican Caribbean (2014–2020)
title_fullStr Multiscale distribution patterns of pelagic rafts of sargasso (Sargassum spp.) in the Mexican Caribbean (2014–2020)
title_full_unstemmed Multiscale distribution patterns of pelagic rafts of sargasso (Sargassum spp.) in the Mexican Caribbean (2014–2020)
title_sort multiscale distribution patterns of pelagic rafts of sargasso (sargassum spp.) in the mexican caribbean (2014–2020)
publisher Frontiers Media SA
publishDate 2022
url http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.920339
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.920339/full
genre North Atlantic
genre_facet North Atlantic
op_source Frontiers in Marine Science
volume 9
ISSN 2296-7745
op_rights https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
op_doi https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.920339
container_title Frontiers in Marine Science
container_volume 9
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