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The U.S. government is closed. This site will not be updated; however, NOAA websites and social media channels necessary to protect lives and property will be maintained. To learn more, visit commerce.gov. 

For the latest forecasts and critical weather information, visit weather.gov.

NCCOS-funded study quantifies economic damage caused by recurring sargassum inundation

A tropical coastal bay heavily covered in brown sargassum, with a sailboat surrounded by the seaweed near the center. Green hills, palm trees, and houses line the shore under a bright sky.A new NCCOS-funded study quantifies the annual economic damage caused by recurring sargassum inundation events across the coasts of Puerto Rico, the USVI, and Florida. Results show that these seaweed events are expected to cause significant negative economic impacts, in multimillion dollars each year, across the study regions. The study, conducted by a team of social scientists and economists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute  and University of Rhode Island, aimed to provide resource managers with clear, evidence-based economic data to help guide funding decisions and policy responses to sargassum inundation events.