Drastic seaweed growth threatens marine life and fishing – but also offers opportunities

Sargassum seaweed on a beach in Barbados. Yanna Fidai, CC BY-NC-ND

Large blooms of seaweed are increasingly being reported along coastlines globally, from Europe and Asia to the tropics and beyond.

Both native and invasive (non-native) seaweeds are appearing in quantities that are hard to ignore and at unusual or surprising times of year.

As an earth observation and remote-sensing scientist, I track these blooms from space using high-resolution satellite imagery. My research shows that seaweed blooms are getting bigger.