Sargasso Sea

The ocean currents of the North Atlantic Gyre

The Sargasso Sea is a region in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by ocean currents. It 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. This system of currents forms the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre.

The Sargasso is roughly 700 statute miles wide and 2,000 statute miles long (1,100 km wide and 3,200 km long). It stretches from roughly 70 degrees west to 40 degrees west, and from 25 degrees north to 35 degrees north. Bermuda is near the western fringes of the sea. The Sargasso Sea is the only "sea" without shores.^[1]

History

Portuguese sailors were among the first to discover this region in the 15th century, although it may have been known to earlier mariners, as a poem by the late 4th century AD author, Rufus Festus Avienus, describes a portion of the Atlantic as being covered with seaweed, citing a now-lost account by the 5th-century BC Carthaginian explorer Himilco the Navigator. Christopher Columbus and his men also noted the Sargasso Sea, and brought reports of the masses of seaweed on the surface.

Ecology

An image of the distribution and size of eel larvae shows the approximate location of the Sargasso Sea.

The Sargasso Sea is home to seaweed of the genus Sargassum, which floats en masse on the surface there. The sargassum is not a threat to shipping, and historic incidents of sailing ships being trapped there are due to the often calm winds of the doldrums or horse latitudes.^[2]

The Sargasso Sea also plays a major role in the migration of the European eel and the American eel. The larvae of both species hatch there and go to Europe and/or the East Coast of North America. Later in life, they try to return to the Sargasso Sea to 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 predation until they are mature.^[3]

The Sargasso Sea was the subject of a recent metagenomics effort called the Global Ocean Sampling (GOS) survey by J. Craig Venter and others, to evaluate the diversity of microbial life there. The results have indicated that, contrary to previous theories, the area has a wide variety of prokaryotic life.

Owing to surface currents, the Sargasso accumulates a high concentration of non-biodegradable plastic waste.^[4] This huge vortex of garbage is similar to another ocean phenomenon, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Fiction

The Sargasso Sea is often portrayed in literature and the media as an area of mystery.^[5]

The Sargasso Sea features in classic fantasy stories by William Hope Hodgson, such as his novel The Boats of the Glen Carrig (1907) and several related short stories. More recently the movie The Lost Continent (1968) was set in a highly fictionalised Sargasso Sea where are found in modern times Spanish ships trapped for centuries in seaweed, a society of descendants of Conquistadores and sea monsters.

Edwin Corley's novel, Sargasso, revolves around a fictional account of Apollo 19 splashing down in the Sargasso sea empty. In Marvel 1602, it is where the Fantastick Four gained their powers. The first episode of the 1960s animated series Jonny Quest, Mystery of the Lizardmen^[6] takes place in the Sargasso Sea. In 2004, the Cartoon Network series The Venture Bros., an oblique parody of Jonny Quest, aired an episode called the Ghosts of the Sargasso, intermingling many pop culture references with the folklore of the Bermuda Triangle. In a reference to this windless, seaweed bogged section of the sea, the Captain of the Ghost Pirates decries "We've been stuck in that stinkin' sargassum for years, which by the way no matter how you cook it, still tastes like hot sargassum." Jean Rhys's Novel, Wide Sargasso Sea, plays with the idea that a woman can become lost in her own society and thus driven out of her mind, a la Bronte's 'mad women in the attic'. This novel takes up the life of the crazed woman in the attic in Bronte's novel Jane Eyre. Also, a sailor in the music video for the Modest Mouse song, "Dashboard", claims to have lost his hand and met a strange society while sailing in Sargasso Sea.

References

1. ^ "Flint Institute of Arts Vol 2 No 2". http://web.mac.com/flintartsed/Homeschool/artreachresources_files/AR2_2_Oct07.pdf. 
2. ^ "Sargasso". Straight Dope. http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/msargasso.html. 
3. ^ BBC NEWS | Science/Nature |Turtles return home after UK stay
4. ^ "The trash vortex". Greenpeace. http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/oceans/pollution/trash-vortex. Retrieved on 2008-04-20. 
5. ^ Ruth Heller (2000). A Sea Within a Sea: Secrets of the Sargasso. Price Stern Sloan. ISBN 978-0448424170. 
6. ^ Mystery of the Lizardmen at AOL Television

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Coordinates: 28°20′08″N 66°10′30″W / 28.33556°N 66.175°W / 28.33556; -66.175