Ocean Science Lecture Series - Brian Lapointe, Ph.D. скачать в хорошем качестве

Ocean Science Lecture Series - Brian Lapointe, Ph.D.

"The Science of the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt" Brian Lapointe, Ph.D., Research Professor About the Lecture: For over five centuries, the floating brown seaweed, pelagic Sargassum, has been a subject of lively debate among scientists and sailors alike. Lapointe will provide a brief history of pelagic Sargassum and its unique ecosystem, and how the Gulf and Sargasso Sea have historically been source regions of Sargassum in the North Atlantic. Since 2010, Lapointe has worked closely with colleagues at the University of South Florida who developed satellite remote sensing to monitor the seasonal growth and biomass of pelagic Sargassum. Lapointe will describe a new source region of Sargassum that developed in 2011, the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt (GASB), located in the tropical Atlantic south of the Sargasso Sea. The GASB extends from the west coast of Africa to the Caribbean, Gulf, and South Florida, forming the largest seaweed bloom on Earth. He will describe the various nutrient sources that feed the GASB, and how excessive Sargassum inundation events are impacting water quality, human health and the economy of South Florida. Lapointe will close by describing local start-up companies that are re-purposing Sargassum into a wide variety of commercially valuable products that are beneficial to mankind.