The Sargasso SeaLauren Seyler

A Sea Without Shores• 1,100 km wide by 3,200 km long– 70°W to 40°W, 25°N to 35°N

• Bounded by currents:– West: Gulf Stream– North: North Atlantic Current– East: Canary Current– South: North Atlantic Equatorial Current– => North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre

• Depths of 1,500-7,000 m

Characteristics

• Separation from rest of Atlantic• Indigenous currents weak, mostly entropious– What goes in, won’t go out

• Plus: low ppt, high evaporation, light winds• = No mixing!• Warm, saline, nutrient-poor water

• Brown seaweed with small, berry-like bladders

• Travels with wind and current

• Not brought in by Gulf Stream

• Unique ecological niche• J. Craig Venter• 1800 species, 148

previously unknown bacterial phylotypes

Sargassum

Deadly Doldrums

• “Sea of Lost Ships”- contains Bermuda Triangle

• Dreaded by seafarers for centuries• Columbus’s crew feared seaweed• Not seaweed, but calms– “Horse Latitudes”

• Even today, airplanes and cargo ships lost– WHY?