In its monitoring and forecast bulletin for the stranding of pelagic sargassum for the Northern Islands communicated on January 22, 2024, Météo France maintains the risk level at low for the territories of Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy.
For the Antilles Guyana zone, satellite images from January 20 and 21 were analyzed. Some filaments are detected to the east of the Lesser Antilles in a current which could bring them towards the coasts of Guadeloupe. Numerous and long rafts of sargassum are present approximately 700km to the east and are largely heading towards the West Indian arc. This area dense in sargassum stretches up to 1400km from the coast. The images taken near Saint Martin and Saint-Barthélemy allow a good analysis of the situation around the Northern Islands and confirm the low risk of sargassum stranding: no detection near the French islands, therefore no arrival notable expected. The trends for the next two weeks lead to a similar but cautious observation: low to medium risk of grounding. The drifts are from East to East-South-East, filaments to the north-east of Martinique are likely to be carried towards the Guadeloupean archipelago by concentrating and agglutinating on certain favorable grounding zones. The Northern Isles are further away from this threat at the moment. However, the forecasts for the next two months, in line with the start of the sargassum season in February, indicate that strandings are expected. Numerous sargassum sheets are detected to the east of the West Indian arc, at a distance between 700 and 1400km from our coasts. The first should concern us more or less two months from now in a more intense manner, depending on the evolution of weather conditions. Guyana is spared, no detections east of its coasts. However, it should be remembered that detections are difficult in this sector due to the continued presence of numerous clouds, linked to the presence of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). To be continued… _VX
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