PACIFIC -  NEW SARGASSO (BELT) SEAS

 

 

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ATLANTIC SARGASSUM SPREAD - The giant brown seaweed, having shown that it can spread from North to South Atlantic oceans, could spread to the Indian and Pacific oceans as a potentially invasive species. The proof of which (as a theory) is satellite pictures, and changing wind states. The spread witnessed here, could just as easily migrate between oceans, and thence to the bays and seas within those oceans.

 

 

 

 

 

We are concerned that with the oceans warming at a faster rate than predicted, and with the spill over of sargassum from the Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic, to create an Atlantic Equatorial sargassum gyre, that it is almost inevitable, and we might expect to see a South Atlantic sargassum gyre in the not too distant future, in proportion to insolation, since photosynthesis is the propagator of plant life.

 

If that comes to pass, and with the Indian and Pacific oceans also warming at the same rate as the Atlantic, so generating faster currents and winds; spillage around the horns could become a distinct possibility. In which case, the Pacific Ocean could be a prime contender for a macro sargassum gyre, or belt. Dependent on location current circulation conditions. Or at least, the Pacific may suffer a similar fate to the Caribbean Sea, where the bays, seas and islands therein suffer beaches strewn with mounds of sargassum, to ruin fishing, tourism and marine ecology/biodiversity.

 

ABOUT THE PACIFIC OCEAN

 

The Pacific separates Asia and Australia from the Americas. It may be further subdivided by the equator into northern (North Pacific) and southern (South Pacific) portions. It extends from the Antarctic region in the South to the Arctic in the north. The Pacific Ocean encompasses approximately one-third of the Earth's surface, having an area of 165,200,000 km2 (63,800,000 sq mi) - larger than Earth's entire landmass combined, 150,000,000 km2 (58,000,000 sq mi).

Extending approximately 15,500 km (9,600 mi) from the Bering Sea in the Arctic to the northern extent of the circumpolar Southern Ocean at 60°S (older definitions extend it to Antarctica's Ross Sea), the Pacific reaches its greatest east–west width at about 5°N latitude, where it stretches approximately 19,800 km (12,300 mi) from Indonesia to the coast of Colombia - halfway around the world, and more than five times the diameter of the Moon. Its geographic center is in eastern Kiribati south of Kiritimati, just west from Starbuck Island at 4°58′S 158°45′W. The lowest known point on Earth - the Mariana Trench - lies 10,911 m (35,797 ft; 5,966 fathoms) below sea level. Its average depth is 4,280 m (14,040 ft; 2,340 fathoms), putting the total water volume at roughly 710,000,000 km3 (170,000,000 cu mi).

Due to the effects of plate tectonics, the Pacific Ocean is currently shrinking by roughly 2.5 cm (1 in) per year on three sides, roughly averaging 0.52 km2 (0.20 sq mi) a year. By contrast, the Atlantic Ocean is increasing in size.

Along the Pacific Ocean's irregular western margins lie many seas, the largest of which are the Celebes Sea, Coral Sea, East China Sea (East Sea), Philippine Sea, Sea of Japan, South China Sea (South Sea), Sulu Sea, Tasman Sea, and Yellow Sea (West Sea of Korea). The Indonesian Seaway (including the Strait of Malacca and Torres Strait) joins the Pacific and the Indian Ocean to the west, and Drake Passage and the Strait of Magellan link the Pacific with the Atlantic Ocean on the east. To the north, the Bering Strait connects the Pacific with the Arctic Ocean.

As the Pacific straddles the 180th meridian, the West Pacific (or western Pacific, near Asia) is in the Eastern Hemisphere, while the East Pacific (or eastern Pacific, near the Americas) is in the Western Hemisphere.

The Southern Pacific Ocean harbors the Southeast Indian Ridge crossing from south of Australia turning into the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge (north of the South Pole) and merges with another ridge (south of South America) to form the East Pacific Rise which also connects with another ridge (south of North America) which overlooks the Juan de Fuca Ridge.

For most of Magellan's voyage from the Strait of Magellan to the Philippines, the explorer indeed found the ocean peaceful; however, the Pacific is not always peaceful. Many tropical storms batter the islands of the Pacific. The lands around the Pacific Rim are full of volcanoes and often affected by earthquakes. Tsunamis, caused by underwater earthquakes, have devastated many islands and in some cases destroyed entire towns.

ISLANDS

The Pacific Ocean has most of the islands in the world. There are about 25,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. The islands entirely within the Pacific Ocean can be divided into three main groups known as Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia. Micronesia, which lies north of the equator and west of the International Date Line, includes the Mariana Islands in the northwest, the Caroline Islands in the center, the Marshall Islands to the east and the islands of Kiribati in the southeast.

Melanesia, to the southwest, includes New Guinea, the world's second largest island after Greenland and by far the largest of the Pacific islands. The other main Melanesian groups from north to south are the Bismarck Archipelago, the Solomon Islands, Santa Cruz, Vanuatu, Fiji and New Caledonia.

The largest area, Polynesia, stretching from Hawaii in the north to New Zealand in the south, also encompasses Tuvalu, Tokelau, Samoa, Tonga and the Kermadec Islands to the west, the Cook Islands, Society Islands and Austral Islands in the center, and the Marquesas Islands, Tuamotu, Mangareva Islands, and Easter Island to the east.

Islands in the Pacific Ocean are of four basic types: continental islands, high islands, coral reefs and uplifted coral platforms. Continental islands lie outside the andesite line and include New Guinea, the islands of New Zealand, and the Philippines. Some of these islands are structurally associated with nearby continents. High islands are of volcanic origin, and many contain active volcanoes. Among these are Bougainville, Hawaii, and the Solomon Islands.

The coral reefs of the South Pacific are low-lying structures that have built up on basaltic lava flows under the ocean's surface. One of the most dramatic is the Great Barrier Reef off northeastern Australia with chains of reef patches. A second island type formed of coral is the uplifted coral platform, which is usually slightly larger than the low coral islands. Examples include Banaba (formerly Ocean Island) and Makatea in the Tuamotu group of French Polynesia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

STATISTICS

The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continents of Asia and Australia in the west and the Americas in the east.

At 165,250,000 square kilometers (63,800,000 square miles) in area (as defined with a southern Antarctic border), this largest division of the World Ocean - and, in turn, the hydrosphere - covers about 46% of Earth's water surface and about 32% of its total surface area, larger than Earth's entire land area combined 148,000,000 km2 (57,000,000 sq mi). The centers of both the Water Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere, as well as the oceanic pole of inaccessibility are in the Pacific Ocean. Ocean circulation (caused by the Coriolis effect) subdivides it into two largely independent volumes of water, which meet at the equator: the North(ern) Pacific Ocean and South(ern) Pacific Ocean. The Galápagos and Gilbert Islands, while straddling the equator, are deemed wholly within the South Pacific.

Its mean depth is 4,000 meters (13,000 feet). Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, located in the western north Pacific, is the deepest point in the world, reaching a depth of 10,928 meters (35,853 feet). The Pacific also contains the deepest point in the Southern Hemisphere, the Horizon Deep in the Tonga Trench, at 10,823 meters (35,509 feet). The third deepest point on Earth, the Sirena Deep, is also located in the Mariana Trench.

The western Pacific has many major marginal seas, including but not limited to the South China Sea, the East China Sea, the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk, the Philippine Sea, the Coral Sea, Java Sea and the Tasman Sea. 

The volume of the Pacific Ocean, representing about 50.1 percent of the world's oceanic water, has been estimated at some 714 million cubic kilometers (171 million cubic miles). Surface water temperatures in the Pacific can vary from −1.4 °C (29.5 °F), the freezing point of seawater, in the poleward areas to about 30 °C (86 °F) near the equator. Salinity also varies latitudinally, reaching a maximum of 37 parts per thousand in the southeastern area. The water near the equator, which can have a salinity as low as 34 parts per thousand, is less salty than that found in the mid-latitudes because of abundant equatorial precipitation throughout the year. The lowest counts of less than 32 parts per thousand are found in the far north as less evaporation of seawater takes place in these frigid areas. The motion of Pacific waters is generally clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere (the North Pacific gyre) and counter-clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. The North Equatorial Current, driven westward along latitude 15°N by the trade winds, turns north near the Philippines to become the warm Japan or Kuroshio Current.

Turning eastward at about 45°N, the Kuroshio forks and some water moves northward as the Aleutian Current, while the rest turns southward to rejoin the North Equatorial Current. The Aleutian Current branches as it approaches North America and forms the base of a counter-clockwise circulation in the Bering Sea. Its southern arm becomes the chilled slow, south-flowing California Current. The South Equatorial Current, flowing west along the equator, swings southward east of New Guinea, turns east at about 50°S, and joins the main westerly circulation of the South Pacific, which includes the Earth-circling Antarctic Circumpolar Current. As it approaches the Chilean coast, the South Equatorial Current divides; one branch flows around Cape Horn and the other turns north to form the Peru or Humboldt Current.

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

The quantity of small plastic fragments floating in the north-east Pacific Ocean increased a hundredfold between 1972 and 2012. The ever-growing Great Pacific garbage patch between California and Japan is three times the size of France. An estimated 80,000 metric tons of plastic inhabit the patch, totaling 1.8 trillion pieces.

Marine pollution is a generic term for the harmful entry into the ocean of chemicals or particles. The main culprits are those using the rivers for disposing of their waste. The rivers then empty into the ocean, often also bringing chemicals used as fertilizers in agriculture. The excess of oxygen-depleting chemicals in the water leads to hypoxia and the creation of a dead zone.

Marine debris, also known as marine litter, is human-created waste that has ended up floating in a lake, sea, ocean, or waterway. Oceanic debris tends to accumulate at the center of gyres and coastlines, frequently washing aground where it is known as beach litter.

In addition, the Pacific Ocean has served as the crash site of satellites, including Mars 96, Fobos-Grunt, and Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CLIMATE CHANGE

Pacific Island leaders, along with leaders from other Small Island Developing States (SIDS), have been instrumental in shaping climate policies and the Paris Climate Agreement (UNFCCC, 2015). They called for a loss and damages clause that allows islands to assess and quantify impacts of cyclones and weather-related events and were vocal advocates to limit warming of global mean temperature to 1.5°C. The recognition that warming of 1.5°C or higher increases the risk associated with irreversible damages such as the loss of entire ecosystems has just been articulated in the latest IPCC report (IPCC, 2018). Despite their minimal contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions (Hoad, 2015), many SIDS included ambitious mitigation targets in their national climate plans (i.e., Nationally Determined Contributions, NDC) to raise collective ambition to reduce GHG emissions globally (Ourbak and Magnan, 2018).

Pacific Islanders are also leading climate action at the local level, implementing strategies to help communities and ecosystems to be more resilient to climate change. The region provides important opportunities for testing and refining adaptation responses at scale. The Pacific Islands are home to species found nowhere else on earth and are incredibly diverse, in terms of their ecosystems, geography, and demographics. Pacific Islanders have lived with natural environmental impacts for thousands of years and have adapted practices to accommodate periods of environmental fluctuations. Although the pace of environmental and climatic changes has increased, many communities are implementing climate-smart agriculture and are revitalizing traditional practices that utilize drought-tolerant species and the benefits of nature, such as using seaweed as compost to make soil more fertile, using palm fronds to shade plants during droughts, and planting vegetation to reduce flooding and erosion along coastlines. They are also combining these traditional practices with new scientific advancements such as the development of salt-tolerant and heat-tolerant crops and community-led GIS mapping of breadfruit trees vulnerable to climate impacts in the Marshall Islands. Communities are revitalizing traditional wells, establishing new protected areas and improving the management of existing protected areas, and developing climate-smart development plans that incorporate ecosystem-based adaptation.

REMOTENESS OF ISLANDS

Logistical, technological, and weather-related obstacles are common in remote islands in the Pacific, causing delays to material-dependent projects. High costs of transportation and certain goods divert spending from on-the-ground implementation. Distance from markets can also limit economic growth. Such issues can lead to decreased interest in the region from international conservation supporters and investors. However, the logistical challenges and high costs related to often remote locations of islands is also a factor driving the development of local solutions for climate adaptation that build on local traditional knowledge. While some of the solutions are specific to the needs of islands, they inspire innovative approaches that can be applied in other areas.

LACK OF TECHNICAL & FINANCIAL CAPACITY

Pacific Island countries face a number of capacity constraints (e.g., financial and project management, climate modeling and spatial analysis, and infrastructure maintenance; Dornan and Newton Cain, 2014). Sustained capacity in the local NGOs also is a challenge; as talented youth rise through the ranks of conservation programs, they are often recruited into higher-paying government or private sector jobs or seek opportunities abroad. Such staff turnover problems hinder long-term conservation projects by causing significant portions of funding sources to be repeatedly used toward capacity development. Local adaptation projects supported by external sources of funding (e.g., climate grants) often end when the grant is over, if there is not sufficient local capacity to continue the project. Finally, lack of technical capacity is also a challenge.

For example, enforcement of marine resource harvesting regulations requires expensive investments in equipment (e.g., boats and surveillance technologies) and advanced training. Enforcement funding is often gleaned from the end of project budgets, as expenditures such as staff time, materials, and planning commonly absorb substantial amounts of initial funding. Technical capacity for climate resilient agriculture is limited, and on-going support is often needed to address emerging threats (e.g., new garden pests in Ahus, Papua New Guinea).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CLIMATE DRIVEN RANGE SHIFTS OF SARGASSUM HORNERI, BROWN SEAWEED, NORTHWEST PACIFIC

Climate-driven shifts of coastal species’ ranges constitute a key factor shaping both the vegetation composition and biodiversity of coastal ecosystems. Although phylogeographic studies relying on genetic data have shed light on the evolutionary history of macroalgae along the Northwest Pacific (NW-Pacific) coast, their distribution dynamics are less understood and require interdisciplinary examination. Here, we used a combination of species distribution models (SDMs) and genetic data to explain the causes of population persistence and genetic differentiation and their consequences for the brown seaweed Sargassum horneri in the NW-Pacific. In this region, the phylogeographic structure of S. horneri was analyzed by screening 72 populations spawning across the entire coastal distribution and obtaining their mtDNA cox3 data.

 

Population genetic structure and SDMs based on paleoclimatic data consistently revealed that southern coasts of the Sea of Japan, North-Pacific-Japan, and the northern part of Okinawa Trough might have served as potential refugia for S. horneri during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Furthermore, we projected the distribution dynamics of S. horneri under future climate scenarios. The range of S. horneri was predicted to move northward, with a significant loss of suitable habitat, under the high emissions scenario (RCP 8.5). By contrast, projected range shifts were minimal under the low emissions scenario (RCP 2.6). Furthermore, North-Pacific-Japan was projected to be long-term persistence habitat for S. horneri under future climatic conditions, thus including this area in conservation planning could help mitigate for climate change implications. Our results enable a better understanding of the impacts of climate change on the spatio-temporal distribution of macroalgae and how this can inform coastal management and marine conservation planning.

Sargassum horneri is a warm-temperate and habitat-forming species found in the coastal ecosystem of the NW-Pacific, where it provides substrate for epiphytic communities and habitat for fish and invertebrates (Komatsu et al., 2014). However, the natural resource of S. horneri is heavily threatened by human activity (e.g., over-harvesting) and climatic changes (e.g., ocean warming). As a prominent species forming the “golden tide” in the NW-Pacific, S. horneri can stay on the sea surface for ca. 1–5 months (Yatsuya, 2008). Ocean currents such as the Kuroshio Current could facilitate the long-distance dispersal of multiple marine species from south to north (Yamasaki et al., 2014; Li et al., 2017a). In particular, non-buoyant seaweed and/or invertebrates could hitchhike on floating rafts formed by positive buoyant seaweeds (e.g., Sargassum, Durvillaea, Macrocystis), to colonize to newly available suitable habitats (Fraser et al., 2013; Boo et al., 2014; Guillemin et al., 2014; van Hees et al., 2019). Thus the abundance and distribution of positive buoyant seaweeds can strongly influence the expansion of coastal species under climate change (Macreadie et al., 2011; van Hees et al., 2019).

Any range shifts of habitat-forming species found would have important consequences for community constitution and ecosystem functioning, with implications for marine management and conservation. In this study, we assessed how past climate changes produced significant biogeographical shifts and predicted the distribution of potential climatic refugia for S. horneri. We further estimated the threat posed on ancient refugia and rear edge populations by future climatic change under two contrasting RCPs (Representative Concentration Pathway scenarios).

Primary productivity was the most important driver shaping the distribution of S. horneri. Primary productivity, itself closely associated with nutrient concentrations, available light, and water transparency, could reliably discriminate suitable from non-suitable habitat for S. horneri populations. In particular, the concentration of nutrients seems to have been a relevant factor driving the population dynamics of S. horneri (Yoshida et al., 2001; Qi et al., 2017). Response curves showed that mean primary productivity was positively correlated with the habitat suitability of S. horneri. This is consistent with primary productivity projected as being a major variable shaping the current distribution of seaweeds Undaria pinnatifida (Báez et al., 2010), Macrocystis and Durvillaea (Bernardes Batista et al., 2018).

CONSEQUENCES OF RANGE SHIFTS & IMPLICATIONS

Previous studies have noticed that canopy-forming marine species are suffering particularly strong declines worldwide (Assis et al., 2017; Wilson et al., 2019). According to work by Krumhansl et al. (2014), 38% of the world’s kelp forests have vanished in the past five decades. Sargassum horneri is one of the most important habitat-forming species in the NW-Pacific, where it annually forms large-scale floating mats (Li et al., 2020). These floating islands of biomass accumulate at the continental shelf and the Kuroshio Front, providing both shelter and food for juveniles of many fish and invertebrates (Komatsu et al., 2014; Yamasaki et al., 2014). Based on satellite data, large patches of floating S. horneri were first found near Zhejiang Province waters, and then transported northeast (Komatsu et al., 2007; Qi et al., 2017). Due to their role in supporting biodiversity and food webs, the changes in the distribution range of S. horneri may substantially impact the species diversity of coastal and pelagic ecosystems (Yamasaki et al., 2014).

Our study combined species distribution model and genetic analyses to give insight into impacts of climate change on the spatio-temporal distribution of S. horneri in the NW-Pacific. Based on our projections, the North-Pacific-Japan region may be a suitable habitat for S. horneri under ongoing global warming, which is also supported by projections done for S. japonica (Zhang et al., 2019). The cold Oyashio current in this region may mitigate the rate of ocean warming and facilitate the growth of cold-water adapted species kelps (Saccharina, Alaria, Costaria) (Sudo et al., 2020) and warm-temperate species, such as Undaria pinnatifida (Sato et al., 2016) and Sargassum thunbergii (Li et al., 2017a). Under the RCP 8.5 scenario, our projections demonstrated a significant range contraction of S. horneri with the loss of its southern limits. Rear-edge populations may embody unique adaptive strategies, which could maintain population stability so these populations should be of special interest to conservation planners (Rilov et al., 2019).

Authors: Jing-Jing Li1, Sheng-Hui Huang1, Zheng-Yi Liu2 and Yuan-Xin Bi3

1 Key Laboratory of Marine Hazards Forecasting, Ministry of Natural Resources, Hohai University, Nanjing, China
2 Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, China
3 Key Laboratory of Sustainable Utilization of Technology Research for Fisheries Resources of Zhejiang Province, Marine Fisheries Research Institute of Zhejiang, Zhoushan, China

NUCLEAR WASTE


From 1946 to 1958, Marshall Islands served as the Pacific Proving Grounds for the United States and was the site of 67 nuclear tests on various atolls. Several nuclear weapons were lost in the Pacific Ocean, including one-megaton bomb lost during the 1965 Philippine Sea A-4 incident.

In 2021, the discharge of radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean over a course of 30 years was approved by the Japanese Cabinet. The Cabinet concluded the radioactive water would have been diluted to drinkable standard. Apart from dumping, leakage of tritium into the Pacific was estimated to be between 20 and 40 trillion Bqs from 2011 to 2013, according to the Fukushima plant.

ORIGINS OF SARGASSUM

 

The North Atlantic Sargasso Sea is where sargassum originates and was contained for hundreds of years, until climate change and intensive farming. But should the unthinkable happen, and the invasive species take hold in the South Atlantic, from whence to spread it's biological advantage, one can imagine the dire consequences, perhaps mirroring that now ruining the Caribbean Sea. Make no mistake, the consequences of climate change and intensive, fertilizer based farming, could become a deadly world contagion, to make other epidemics seem insignificant, in terms of potential human tragedy.

 

An animal has a means to exhaust toxic waste, essential for a healthy lifestyle. The oceans have nowhere to dump the excrement we dump in it. They just get more polluted. Except for sargassum piling onto the shores, telling us that we have reached the limit.

 

So, what are the chances of it happening? Could there be a 'Pacific Equatorial (belt) Sargasso Sea,' or belt, where the present welcoming waters are turned into a cesspit of foul smelling rotten seaweeds, as they release hydrogen sulphide gas to choke visitors to their shores.

 

COMPUTER SIMULATIONS & CONTAINMENT DEVICES

 

That all depends on temperature rise of seawater, combined with nutrient supply, and circulating currents, including winds. All of which is measurable, for variable algorithmic computer simulations. As has been performed on the influx to the Caribbean Sea, via the equatorial Atlantic gyre, by scientists at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg's College of Marine Science, who used NASA satellite observations to discover and document the largest bloom of macroalgae. Others used Global Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model surface currents (HYCOM) (Chassignet et al., 2007) and National Centers for Environmental Prediction Reanalysis (NCEP), in their simulations.

 

But nobody has yet created a computer model of a SeaVax Calypso or Sargasso, used in various (fleet SeaNet formations) to determine if such a concept could control volume escalation, before they grow to be profusely irrepressible. Indeed such simulations may help develop such concepts in terms of capacity and operations, that they may, or may not, contain the crisis, preventing a worldwide state of emergency - by nipping it in the bud.

 

THEORY DEVELOPMENT

 

At this stage of the formulation of his theory, the innovator is considering the awful prospect, based on the demonstrable and devastating spread of sargassum from the North Atlantic to the Equatorial South Atlantic, but not yet migrating to the more general south, due presumably, to temperatures not yet being to the liking of the buoyant seaweed.

 

The three major oceans are all interconnected via currents and driving winds. The main barrier to migration at present, is the temperature and level of nutrients, that is lower where the seaweed mats could pass from one to another. But that is by no means a hard point, as the melting of the polar caps indicates. We are living in changeable times, where the unthinkable is taking place, as a pace faster than previously supposed.

 

In other words, the impossible is rapidly becoming possible. And there is no containment system at present, to prevent that from happening; no international coordination, or action plan. A recipe for disaster you may think!

 

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

 

The sargassum crisis seen in the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico could be just the beginning of a worldwide plague, stemming from our inability to curb political insatiability for fossil fuels - to power failing economic strategies, based on growth, when we have already used up the planet twice over, in sustainable terms.

 

The answer to failed political policies is very often a jolly good war, (Russia Vs Ukraine). When all cock-ups get thrown to the wind in the media scrum, and a whitewash ensues, until the next band of post-war cutthroats is elected, each with their hands in the pockets of Lucifer's climate change deniers. That said, it would take a nuclear conflict to reduce earth's population significantly enough to brake global warming - but then the planet would be barren and unable to support human life. Hence, an unthinkable solution to all but the most desperate of homicidal kleptocrats: warmongers.

 

But, ignoring thermonuclear first strikes for now, even if we transition to renewables immediately, global warming will not reverse for 30-50 years at best, and that is with a fair political wind. Meaning that the conditions for sargassum to populate welcoming equatorial waters (rich in nutrients) around the globe, remains a distinct possibility. Such as the:

 

 

Arabian Sea

Atlantic - North & South Equatorial

Banda Ceram Molucca & Timor Seas

Bay of Bengal

Celebes Sea

Gulf of Guinea

Gulf of Thailand

Indian Ocean

Java Sea

Pacific Ocean - North & South, Equatorial Belt (Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama regions)

Philippine Sea

South China Sea

 

 

Seas and oceans in these latitudes could become inundated with macro algae, if the rafts of floating seaweed manage to navigate less hospitable barriers, such as colder regions. Which at the moment, Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope appear to offer some protection from invasion.

 

THESIS

 

This is a theory proposed by Nelson Kay (as a volunteer) in August of 2022, based on his work with the SeaVax team from 2016 - 2020. Though that exertion was mostly concerning micro and macro plastic recovery and river containment, the ocean engineering and logistical challenges posed by SeaVax are kindred concepts, and may be sympathetically adapted or even interchangeable to some degree. And may one day inspire others to devise a practical resolution.

 

Academics and scientific institutions inclined to test such thesis, or otherwise wishing to provide data or technological assistance, positive or negative, should please contact the Cleaner Ocean Foundation in the first instance. The aim being to prove or disprove the concept, to advance our knowledge in this little understood area of Oceanology/Oceanography. Students at all levels are most welcome, as are degree level students and post graduates looking to higher level qualifications, or simply to gain experience.

 

There are a million reasons for not doing something, and only one for taking up a challenge. Most people will use manifold negatives to sit back in their armchairs, and postulate. But, every now and again, someone is foolhardy enough to roll their sleeves up - and experiment - because they feel they must. Despite the enormity of the task. And that is how this website came about, in support of the SeaVax project in 2017.

 

 

 

 

Honduras, Caribean island with a tide of plastic, pictures by Caroline Power    

 

 

PLASTIC TIDE - These amazing pictures of a giant plastic tide were taken by Caroline Power. Please note how plastic and sargassum intertwine, creating a separation problem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

CARIBBEAN ISLANDS UNDER THREAT A-Z

 

Anguilla

Antigua and Barbuda

Aruba (Netherlands)

Bahamas
Barbados

British Virgin Islands

Caribbean Netherlands

Cayman Islands (UK)

Cuba

Curaçao (Netherlands)

Dominica

Dominican Republic (Hispaniola)

Grenada

Guadeloupe (France) 
Haiti (Hispaniola)
Jamaica
Martinique (France) 
Montserrat
Puerto Rico (US) 

Roatán

Saint Barthélemy

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Saint Lucia 

Saint Martin 

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Sint Maarten (Netherlands)

Tortuga

Trinidad and Tobago

Turks and Caicos Islands
United States Virgin Islands 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LINKS & REFERENCE


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
http://data.gbif.org
https://www.algaebase.org/
http://www.bio-oracle.org/

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2020.570881/full

https://www.pacificclimatechangescience.org/
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2019.00289/full

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
http://data.gbif.org
https://www.algaebase.org/
http://www.bio-oracle.org/

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2020.570881/full

https://www.pacificclimatechangescience.org/
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2019.00289/full

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 This website is provided on a free basis as a public information service. copyright © Cleaner Oceans Foundation Ltd (COFL) (Company No: 4674774) August 2022. Solar Studios, BN271RF, United Kingdom. COFL is a charity without share capital. The names AmphimaxRiverVax™ and SeaVax™ are trademarks.

 

 

 

 

 

WORLD PLAGUES GIANT SARGASSUM SEAWEED MIGRATIONS TO ALL OCEANS