Greater Caribbean Sargassum — 2002 to 2026

Direct-source satellite record. Imagery: SAREDA daily MODIS AFAI (AERIS/ICARE). Validation: USF AFAI via NOAA AOML. No Google Earth Engine.

Animated bloom imagery — monthly Sargassum fractional coverage (2002–2026)

Sargassum frame
293 monthly composites (Jan 2002 → May 2026; June 2026 pending) on a geographic basemap (coastlines & country borders). Sargassum overlaid only where observed; green→yellow→red = increasing areal % cover. Watch the seasonal pulse and the year-on-year growth. Timestamp top-left.

Annual June extent — SAREDA covered area (km²)

Shaded story: flat pre-2011 baseline, 2011 onset, escalation to a 2025 record. Bar for the current animation year is highlighted.

Two datasets, cross-validated (overlap r = )

SAREDA covered area (green, 2002–2025) is the continuous backbone; USF/NOAA ERDDAP extent (orange, 2016+, right axis) is the independent check.

Seasonal cycle (USF/NOAA, 2016–2026 mean)

Mean annual cycle of basin extent: peaks May–July, minimum in winter.

By sub-region (USF/NOAA, annual mean)

Datasets & current frame

SAREDA (AERIS/ICARE, MODIS AFAI, Descloitres et al. 2021): daily gridded Sargassum, 2002–2026, 5 km, variable fractional_coverage. Open archive.

USF AFAI (NOAA AOML / USF SaWS, Wang & Hu 2016): 7-day AFAI fields, 2016–present, ~1.6 km, via ERDDAP.

Comparative extent index; absolute calibration to USF percent-cover pending. Sources are government/peer-reviewed.