Sargasso Sea

The Sargasso Sea (/sɑːrˈɡæsoʊ/) is a region of the Atlantic Ocean bounded by four currents
forming an ocean gyre.[1] Unlike all other regions called seas, it has no land boundaries.[2][3][4] It
is distinguished from other parts of the Atlantic Ocean by its characteristic brown Sargassum
seaweed and often calm blue water.[1]

Map of the Sargasso Sea

 The Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic is
bounded by the Gulf Stream on the west, the
North Atlantic Current on the north, the
Canary Current on the east, and the North
Equatorial Current on the south.

The sea is bounded on the west by the Gulf Stream, on the north by the North Atlantic Current,
on the east by the Canary Current, and on the south by the North Atlantic Equatorial Current, the
four together forming a clockwise-circulating system of ocean currents termed the North
Atlantic Gyre. It lies between 20° and 35° north and 40° and 70° west and is approximately 1,100
kilometres (600 nautical miles) wide by 3,200 km (1,750 nmi) long. Bermuda is near the western
fringes of the sea.

While all of the above currents deposit marine plants and refuse into the sea, ocean water in the
Sargasso Sea is distinctive for its deep blue color and exceptional clarity, with underwater
visibility of up to 60 m (200 ft).[5] It is also a body of water that has captured the public
imagination, and so is seen in a wide variety of literary and artistic works and in popular
culture.[6]

History
The first known written account of the Sargasso Sea dates to Christopher Columbus in 1492,
who wrote about seaweed that he feared would trap his ship and potentially hide shallow waters
that could run them aground, as well as a lack of wind that he feared would trap them.[7]

The sea may have been known to earlier mariners, as a poem by the late fourth century author
Avienius describes a portion of the Atlantic as being covered with seaweed and windless, citing
a now-lost account by the fifth century BCE Carthaginian Himilco the Navigator. Columbus
himself was aware of this account and thought Himilco had reached the Sargasso Sea, as did
several other explorers. However, modern scholars consider this unlikely.[8]

In 1609, the English vessel Sea Venture was blown to the shore of Bermuda. The sea has also
been the site of whaling and fishing.[9]

The 1920–1922 Dana expeditions, led by Johannes Schmidt, determined that the European eel's
breeding sites were in the Sargasso Sea.[10][11] The sea has played a role in a number of other
pioneering research efforts, including William Beebe and Otis Barton's 1932 dive where they
conducted observations of animals and radio broadcasts, John Swallow's work on the Swallow
float in the late 1950s, the discovery of Prochlorococcus by a team of researchers in the 1980s,
and various oceanographic data gathering programs such as those of Henry Stommel.[12]

In July 1969, British businessman and amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst disappeared after his
yacht became mired in the Sargasso Sea. He had been competing in the Sunday Times Golden
Globe Race, a single-handed, round-the-world yacht race when his poorly-prepared boat began to
take on water. He abandoned his circumnavigation attempt, but reported false positions by radio
in an attempt to give the impression that he was still participating. Eventually, Crowhurst wound
up drifting in the Sargasso Sea, where he deteriorated psychologically, filling his logbooks with
metaphysical speculation and delusional comments. His last entry was July 1, and his yacht was
found unoccupied and drifting on July 10. It is unclear whether his death came as the result of
suicide or misadventure.[13][14]

Boundaries
The sea is bounded on the west by the Gulf Stream, on the north by the North Atlantic Current,
on the east by the Canary Current, and on the south by the North Atlantic Equatorial Current, the
four together forming a clockwise-circulating system of ocean currents termed the North
Atlantic Gyre.[15] It lies between 20° to 35° N and 40° and 70° W and is approximately 1,100 km
(600 nmi) wide by 3,200 km (1,750 nmi) long.[16][17] Bermuda is near the western fringes of the
sea.[18]

Because the Sargasso Sea is bordered by oceanic currents, its precise borders may change. The
Canary Current in particular is widely variable, and often the line utilized is one west of the Mid-
Atlantic Ridge. A 2011 report based the sea's boundaries on several variables including currents,
presence of seaweed, and the topography of the ocean floor, and determined that the specific
boundaries of the sea were "between 22°–38°N, 76°–43°W and centred on 30°N and 60°W" for a
total of around 4,163,499 km2 (1,213,882 sq nmi).[19]

Ecology

Lines of sargassum in the Sargasso

Sea

The Sargasso Sea is home to seaweed of the genus Sargassum, which floats en masse on the
surface.[20] The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt is the largest such mass in the world.[21] The
sargassum masses generally are not a threat to shipping, and historic incidents of sailing ships
being trapped there are due to the often-calm winds of the horse latitudes.[20]

The Sargasso Sea plays a role in the migration of catadromous eel species such as the
European eel, the American eel, and the American conger eel. The larvae of these species hatch
within the sea, and as they grow they travel to Europe or the East Coast of North America. Later
in life, the matured eel migrates back to the Sargasso Sea to spawn and lay eggs. It is also
believed that after hatching, young loggerhead sea turtles use currents such as the Gulf Stream
to travel to the Sargasso Sea, where they use the sargassum as cover from predators until they
are mature.[22][23] The sargassum fish is a species of frogfish specially adapted to blend in
among the sargassum seaweed.[24]
In the early 2000s, the Sargasso Sea was sampled as part of the Global Ocean Sampling survey,
to evaluate its diversity of microbial life through metagenomics. Contrary to previous theories,
results indicated the area has a wide variety of prokaryotic life.[25]

Though commonly called seaweed, Sargassum is a type of macroalgae. Like all algae, it
produces oxygen. Based on 1975 measurements of oxygen production, and estimates of the
total mass of Sargassum in the sea, it can be calculated that the Sargasso Sea may produce 2.2
billion litres of O₂ per hour.[26] This makes it a very important part of global ecology.

Threats

Pollution
Owing to surface currents, the Sargasso accumulates a high concentration of non-biodegradable
plastic waste.[27][28] The area contains the huge North Atlantic garbage patch.[29]

Several nations and nongovernmental organizations have united to protect the Sargasso Sea.[30]
These organizations include the Sargasso Sea Commission[31] established 11 March 2014 by
the governments of the Azores (Portugal), Bermuda (United Kingdom), Monaco, the United
Kingdom and the United States.

Bacteria that consume plastic have been found in the plastic-polluted waters of the Sargasso
Sea; however, it is unknown whether these bacteria ultimately clean up poisons or simply spread
them elsewhere in the marine microbial ecosystem. Plastic debris can absorb toxic chemicals
from ocean pollution, potentially poisoning anything that eats it.[32]
Others
Human activity in the Sargasso Sea has negatively impacted it, such as over-fishing and
shipping.[33]

Depictions in popular culture

The Sargasso Sea is often portrayed in literature and the media as an area of mystery.[6] It is
often depicted in fiction as a dangerous area where ships are mired in weed for centuries, unable
to escape.[34]

Literature
Ezra Pound's Portrait d'une Femme opens with the line: "Your mind and you are our Sargasso
Sea", suggesting that the woman addressed in the poem is a repository of trivia and
disconnected facts.[35]

The Sargasso Sea features in classic fantasy stories by William Hope Hodgson, such as his
novel The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" (1907), Victor Appleton's Don Sturdy novel Don Sturdy in the
Port of Lost Ships: Or, Adrift in the Sargasso Sea, and several related short stories.[36] Jules
Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas describes the Sargasso Sea and gives an
account of its formation.[37] Thomas Allibone Janvier's 1898 novel is titled In the Sargasso
Sea.[38]

Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) by Jean Rhys is a rewriting of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre from
Bertha Mason's point of view. Two film adaptations of the same name have been released, one
in 1993 and another in 2006.[39][40]
Music

Guitarists John Abercrombie and Ralph

Towner released an album titled
Sargasso Sea in 1976.[41]

"Sargasso Sea" is the title of the sixth

track of the 1972 album All on the First
Day by Tony, Caro and John.[42]

The ninth song in Taeko Onuki's 1977

album Sunshower is titled "Sargasso
Sea".[43]
Pram's third album is titled Sargasso
Sea.[44]

The video for the 2007 song

"Dashboard" by Modest Mouse features
 the Sargasso Sea on a map and as the
purported scene of events depicted in
the video.[45]
The second song on American
instrumental progressive rock band
Scale the Summit's 2009 album Carving
Desert Canyons is entitled "Sargasso
Sea."[46]

References
Notes

1. Stow, Dorrik A.V. (2004). Encyclopedia of

the Oceans (https://books.google.com/boo
ks?isbn=0198606877) . Oxford University
Press. p. 90. ISBN 978-0198606871.
Retrieved 27 June 2017.
2. NGS Staff (27 September 2011). "Sea" (http
s://education.nationalgeographic.org/resou
rce/sea/) . nationalgeographic.org.
National Geographic Society. Retrieved
27 June 2017. "...a sea is a division of the
ocean that is enclosed or partly enclosed
by land..."

3. Karleskint, George (2009). Introduction to

Marine Biology (https://books.google.com/
books?id=0JkKOFIj5pgC&pg=PA47) .
Boston: Cengage Learning. p. 47. ISBN 978-
0495561972. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
4. "What's the Difference between an Ocean
and a Sea?" (http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/
facts/oceanorsea.html) . Ocean Facts.
Silver Spring MD: National Ocean Service
(NOS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA). 25 March 2014.
Retrieved 7 January 2017 – via
OceanService.NOAA.gov.

5. "Sargasso Sea". World Book. 1958. Vol. 15.

Field Enterprises Educational Corp.

6. Heller, Ruth (2000). A Sea Within a Sea:

Secrets of the Sargasso (https://archive.or
g/details/seawithinseasecr00hell) . Price
Stern Sloan. ISBN 978-0448424170.

7. Sargasso Sea Alliance 2011, p. 10.

 8. Akyeampong, Emmanuel Kwaku; Gates,
Henry Louis Jr. (2012). Dictionary of African
Biography (https://books.google.com/book
s?id=39JMAgAAQBAJ) . OUP. p. 70.
ISBN 978-0195382075.

9. Sargasso Sea Alliance 2011, p. 11.

10. "Where Do Eels Come From?" (https://www.
newyorker.com/magazine/2020/05/25/wh
ere-do-eels-come-from) . The New Yorker.
14 May 2020. Retrieved 2 October 2021.

11. Benson, Keith Rodney; Benson, Keith R.;

Rehbock, Philip F. (2002). Oceanographic
History: The Pacific and Beyond (https://bo
oks.google.com/books?id=kfv059OL6kQC&
dq=%22dana+expedition%22+sargasso+se
a&pg=PA196) . University of Washington
Press. p. 196. ISBN 978-0295982397.
12. Sargasso Sea Alliance 2011, p. 28.
13. McCrum, Robert (4 April 2009). "Deep
water" (https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2
009/apr/05/donald-crowhurst-lone-sailor) .
The Guardian. Retrieved 30 September
2021.

14. Proudfoot, Shannon (2016). "Inside Donald

Crowhurst's heartbreaking round-the-world
hoax" (https://www.sportsnet.ca/more/big-
read-donald-crowhursts-heartbreaking-roun
d-world-hoax/) . Sportsnet. Retrieved
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15. "Ocean Gyre" (https://education.nationalge

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16. "Sargasso Sea" (https://www.oceanfdn.org/
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The Ocean Foundation. 14 September
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17. Weatheritt, Les (2000). Your First Atlantic

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18. Webster, George (31 May 2011).

"Mysterious waters: from the Bermuda
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19. Sargasso Sea Alliance 2011, p. 7.

20. "Sargasso" (http://www.straightdope.com/
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21. Wang, Mengqiu; Hu, Chuanmin; Barnes,

Brian B.; Mitchum, Gary; Lapointe, Brian;
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ews.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7477519.st
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23. "Satellites track turtle 'lost years' " (https://

www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-
26435342) . BBC News. 5 March 2014.
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24. "In the Sargasso Sea, life depends on
floating sargassum seaweed" (https://web.
archive.org/web/20190519194921/https://
www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2
019/06/sargasso-sea-north-atlantic-gyre-su
pports-ocean-life/) . National Geographic
Society. 15 May 2019. Archived from the
original (https://www.nationalgeographic.c
om/magazine/2019/06/sargasso-sea-north
-atlantic-gyre-supports-ocean-life/) on 19
May 2019.
25. Venter, JC; Remington, K; Heidelberg, JF;
et al. (April 2004). "Environmental genome
shotgun sequencing of the Sargasso Sea".
Science. 304 (5667): 66–74.
Bibcode:2004Sci...304...66V (https://ui.ads
abs.harvard.edu/abs/2004Sci...304...66V) .
CiteSeerX 10.1.1.124.1840 (https://citeseer
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1.124.1840) .
doi:10.1126/science.1093857 (https://doi.o
rg/10.1126%2Fscience.1093857) .
PMID 15001713 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.
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26. Blake, Norman J.; Johnson, David L.
(August 1976). "Oxygen production-
consumption of the pelagic Sargassum
community in a flow-through system with
arsenic additions" (https://linkinghub.elsevi
er.com/retrieve/pii/S0011747176800204) .
Deep Sea Research and Oceanographic
Abstracts. 23 (8): 773–778.
doi:10.1016/S0011-7471(76)80020-4 (http
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27. "The Trash Vortex (2008)" (https://web.arch
ive.org/web/20090111010218/http://www.
greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/o
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Greenpeace. Archived from the original (htt
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28. "The trash vortex (2014)" (https://www.gree

npeace.org/archive-international/en/campa
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h-vortex/) . Greenpeace.

29. Wilson, Stiv J. (16 June 2010). "Atlantic

Garbage Patch" (http://www.huffingtonpost.
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_b_539468.html) . HuffPost. Retrieved
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30. Shaw, David (27 May 2014). "Protecting the
Sargasso Sea" (http://www.sciencediploma
cy.org/letter-field/2014/protecting-sargass
o-sea) . Science & Diplomacy. 3 (2).

31. "Sargasso Sea Commission" (http://www.sa

rgassoalliance.org) . sargassoalliance.org.
Retrieved 7 January 2017.

32. Gwyneth Dickey Zaikab (March 2011).

"Marine microbes digest plastic" (http://ww
w.nature.com/news/2011/110328/full/new
s.2011.191.html) . Nature.
doi:10.1038/news.2011.191 (https://doi.or
g/10.1038%2Fnews.2011.191) .

33. Sargasso Sea Alliance 2011, p. 33.

34. Ryther, John H. (1956). "The Sargasso Sea"
(https://www.jstor.org/stable/24943833) .
Scientific American. 194 (1): 98–108.
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36. Hodgeson, William Hope (2011). The

Collected Fiction of William Hope Hodgson:
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37. Verne, Jules (1870). 20,000 Leagues Under
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38. The Literary World: A Monthly Review of

Current Literature (https://books.google.co
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39. Jolley, Susan Arpajian (2005). "Teaching
"Wide Sargasso Sea" in New Jersey" (http
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2307%2F30046421) . ISSN 0013-8274 (http
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JSTOR 30046421 (https://www.jstor.org/st
able/30046421) .
40. Gilchrist, Jennifer (2012). "Women, Slavery,
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e/24246943) . Twentieth Century
Literature. 58 (3): 462–494.
doi:10.1215/0041462X-2012-4003 (https://
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3) . ISSN 0041-462X (https://www.worldca
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41. Nastos, M. G. Allmusic Review (http://www.

allmusic.com/album/sargasso-sea-mw000
0198776) accessed September 6, 2011

42. Tony, Caro and John. "Sargasso Sea" (http

s://www.allmusic.com/song/sargasso-sea-
mt0007524442) . AllMusic. Retrieved
5 November 2021.
 43. Taeko Ohnuki. "Sargasso Sea" (https://ww
w.allmusic.com/album/sunshower-mw000
1148650) . AllMusic. Retrieved 19 August
2022.

44. "Pram – Sargasso Sea" (https://www.allmu

sic.com/album/sargasso-sea-mw0000645
578) . AllMusic. Retrieved 5 November
2021.

45. Modest Mouse – Dashboard (Official Music

Video) (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pe
nvn9VL32Y) . YouTube

46. "Carving Desert Canyons" (https://www.disc

ogs.com/master/712729-Scale-The-Summi
t-Carving-Desert-Canyons) . Discogs.
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Bibliography
 The Protection and Management of the
Sargasso Sea (https://www.sargassosea
commission.org/storage/documents/Sa
rgasso.Report.9.12.pdf) (PDF).
Sargasso Sea Alliance. 2011. ISBN 978-
0984752003. Archived (https://web.arch
ive.org/web/20160721073623/http://w
ww.sargassoseacommission.org/storag
e/documents/Sargasso.Report.9.12.pd
f) (PDF) from the original on 21 July
2016.

External links

Look up Sargasso Sea in Wiktionary, the

free dictionary.
Environment
portal
Oceans
portal

"Sargasso Sea" (https://en.wikisource.o

rg/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Brita
nnica/Sargasso_Sea) . Encyclopædia
Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). 1911.

Sargasso Sea Alliance (http://www.sarg

assoalliance.org/)
Dunning, Brian (16 December 2008).
"Skeptoid #132: The Sargasso Sea and
the Pacific Garbage Patch" (https://skep
toid.com/episodes/4132) . Skeptoid.
Photos of organisms living in the
Sargasso Sea (https://web.archive.org/
 web/20160602015856/https://www.big
elow.org/bacteria/teach/data_orgs3.ht
ml)

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