Tropical Storm Cristobal, moving through the Yucatan Peninsula towards the Gulf of Mexico, brought not only heavy downpours with thunderstorms and squally winds. Beaches of popular resorts on the Caribbean coast of Mexico — Playa del Carmen, Tulum and Puerto Morelos were literally buried overnight under a thick layer of Sargassum algae.
The direction of sea currents and prevailing winds changed dramatically with the arrival of bad weather, and algae began to quickly arrive on the coast of Mexico. The cyclone is expected to linger for several more days and seaweed will continue to flow onto beaches in moderate to high levels for at least a week. Then the arrival of algae will decrease, but will not stop completely.
Lucen las costas de#QuintanaRootapizado de sargazo ante los fuertes vientos de#TormentaTropical#Cristóbal.#PlayasdePlayaDelCarmen,#Solidaridad,#RivieraMayay#Tulum.
Video: Cortesíapic.twitter.com/dnGSjcUaM9— Periodico Quequi (@PeriodicoQuequi)June 5, 2020
The eastern Caribbean harbors seasonally significant amounts of Sargassum seaweed. The trajectory of their movement towards the Gulf of Mexico has so far bypassed the coast of Mexico. It is expected that in the summer months, in addition, currents will drive most of the algae away from the Mexican coast. At the same time, algae will still appear on the beaches to a certain extent.
Scientists predict that the amount of algae that will arrive on Mexico's Caribbean beaches this year will be 30-40% below the record volume of 2019 and lower than in 2018. Peak algae arrivals will occur in the summer months of June, July and August. Then the amount of algae will begin to decrease, and by mid-autumn the beaches can become clean again.
The Mexican Navy, whose ships are busy fencing sargassum at sea, has been deployed to fight the algae. The military also operates six specially built vessels to collect and tow the seaweed out to sea. In addition, anti-algae barriers have been installed in many places along the Quintana Roo coast.
The algae that arrives on the beaches is removed manually by special teams using scraping machines and tractors. Hotels themselves will begin cleaning their beaches as soon as their activities are allowed again after the quarantine is lifted.