“At MGI we have been using satellite data to track the sargassum. We’ve created maps of monthly sargassum beaching from 2018-2020. From month to month, the location of the sargassum beaching changes significantly. There are so many different factors affecting sargassum beaching, for example shoreline, wind, wave, and tide dynamics. We want to find out…
Month: June 2021
Dr Janice Cumberbatch Podcast
“When Sargassum first arrived in the Caribbean, we were very concerned about its impact, especially on tourism and fisheries. But now we have started to see entrepreneurs developing innovative products from Sargassum, such as fertilisers, pharmaceuticals, and biogas. Here we see an ecological risk that is being turned into an opportunity. Over the next couple…
Prof Hazel Oxenford Podcast
“There are so many different species of sargassum; if we are able to identify the morphotypes at sea, that might enable us to track where the different species are coming from. The most exciting part of SARTRAC is working with partners in Jamaica and West Africa. We are hoping to improve the accuracy of our…
Prof. Mona Webber Podcast
“Each type of Sargassum could produce completely different chemical compounds which is shown by colleagues (Davis et al. 2020) working here in Jamaica and at University of York. What is also interesting is that when combined (species and types together) the biomass can be used for different purposes (including agricultural applications), which augers well for…
Mr Romario Anderson
“There has been very little research on the local geomorphological factors affecting the extent of the sargassum beaching events. This is the current focus of my research. Over the next year, I look forward to getting a deeper understanding of the drivers of the beaching events, but also how the seaweed affects the livelihoods of…
Ms Ajani Bissick Podcast
“We don’t yet know which remote sensing algorithms and datasets work best to detect Sargassum for the Caribbean and West Africa. I’m really looking forward to seeing which algorithms and datasets work best and why. Since I’ve worked on sargassum, it’s been interesting to see how different countries have used sargassum. Countries in the Caribbean…
SARTRAC Whole Consortium Meeting #2 Day 5 (virtual)
The fifth and final day of SARTRAC’s second Annual Consortium Meeting was all about looking forward to the year ahead, including the project’s work package specific visions and the big picture. This encompassed the logistical details of budgets, finance and contracts, but also discussion around how we can deliver impact and legacy, and our vision…
SARTRAC Whole Consortium Meeting #2 Day 4 (virtual)
We’re back for another day, Day 4, of the SARTRAC ACM2 being virtually hosted by the University of Southampton. Today was capacity building day, with guest speakers, PhD students and early career researchers leading the proceedings. Capacity building is a key component of the Global Challenges Research Fund (see here for further information), and is…
SARTRAC Whole Consortium Meeting #2 Day 3 (virtual)
How can SARTRAC create the most impactful outputs? Day 3 of the SARTRAC ACM2 was all about what to do next. While some of the day was committed to budgetary discussion and research logistics, there was plenty of time for the plenary group to debate and decide on questions such as: • What are the…
SARTRAC Whole Consortium Meeting #2 Day 2 (virtual)
“When I start speaking it may be difficult to stop.” Was how one researcher began their presentation today. Day 2 of the SARTRAC ACM2 was filled with enthusiastic and experienced researchers sharing their state-of-the art findings, and their progress in experiments, data collection, analysis and delivery of impact. Presentations of ongoing research addressed the biochemistry…