CARICOOS Sargassum Tracker

Authors

Julio Morell, CARICOOSFollow
Haibo Xu, CARICOOSFollow
Patricia Chardon-Maldonado, CARICOOSFollow

BOOC Keywords

Sargassum, Monitoring, Forecasting, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, CARICOOS, IOOS, port-based industries, decision-support tools

Abstract

The CARICOOS Sargassum Tracker tools provide a suite of decision-support tools tailored to assist port-based industries, stakeholders, tourism, coastal managers, and communities in addressing Sargassum influxes in the region. These products were developed to support end users with improved emergency response and early warning systems, aiming to prevent the recurrence of disruptive events, such as the shutdown of the desalination plant in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, and power outages caused by Sargassum blocking the intake systems of coastal generator plant in Puerto Rico.

This tracker brings together several tools to monitor and forecast Sargassum movement and impacts, including 1) the CARICOOS Coastal Circulation Model to simulate ocean currents, temperature, salinity, and water levels near Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, 2) satellite indices like the Maximum Chlorophyll Index (MCI) and Alternative Floating Algae Index (AFAI) to detect Sargassum mats entering the Caribbean; and 3) Sargassum forecast models that provide short-term predictions of Sargassum amounts and a 7-day forecast of where and when it might reach the coast.These tools provide timely and localized forecasts of when, where, and how much Sargassum may reach specific coastal areas in the coming days.

Recommended Citation

Morell, Julio; Xu, Haibo; and Chardon-Maldonado, Patricia (2025) "CARICOOS Sargassum Tracker," Benefits of Ocean Observing Catalog (BOOC): Vol. 3: Iss. 1, Article 6.
Available at: https://cbe.miis.edu/booc/vol3/iss1/6

Document Type

Article