Each winter and spring, the The Dominican Republic is getting ready for the arrival of sargassum: floating mats of brown seaweed drifting west from the Nice Atlantic Sargassum Belt. As soon as a largely offshore phenomenon, sargassum has change into a persistent and more and more disruptive presence alongside the Caribbean coasts.
The The 2025 season marked a historic excessive. Satellite tv for pc monitoring is roughly recorded 38 million tons of sargassum throughout the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf areas in Could, the very best ranges ever noticed and almost doubling the earlier file set in 2022. Within the Dominican Republic, coastal locations similar to Punta Cana and Bávaro skilled intense sargassum arrivals, prompting intensive clean-up operations.
As 2026 begins, monitoring businesses are already reporting elevated early season indicatorsThis reinforces issues that the massive inflow of sargassum is turning into a longer-term actuality moderately than an occasional anomaly.
Is Sargassum Seaweed Dangerous to People?
Typically, sargassum is innocent, however it may trigger irritation and rashes in folks with delicate pores and skin.
What causes sargassum seaweed within the Dominican Republic?
The precise reason for the annual seaweed invasion within the Dominican Republic and the remainder of the Caribbean has not but been scientifically confirmed. A number of research recommend that sargassum development is linked to world warming, chemical substances utilized in agriculture and human air pollution within the ocean.
Sargassum forecast for the Dominican Republic (January 2026)
Newest satellite tv for pc photos of the University of Florida Optical Oceanography Laboratory present an accumulation of sargassum on the Atlantic and southern coasts of the Dominican Republic.
Primarily based on the satellite tv for pc picture, we are able to predict that there will probably be little to no quantities of sargassum seaweed within the Punta Cana space over the subsequent 2 to 4 weeks.
Sargassum Season 2026: Newest Stories
January 2026: Newest photographs of the seashores within the Dominican Republic
As of January 21, the seashores of the primary vacationer hotspots round Punta Cana stay clear, however some sudden arrivals have been reported in latest weeks.
Sargassum season 2025: ARCHIVED REPORTS
October 2025: Newest photographs and satellite tv for pc photos of Punta Cana and different areas
Newest photographs from Sargassum Seaweed Reporting FB group:
The most recent satellite tv for pc picture means that sargassum arrivals are slowing and are about to cease for the autumn and winter season.
July 2025: Newest picture stories from FB Reporting Group: Dominican Republic Sargassum Seaweed Reports (Punta Cana, Cabarete, etc.)
Primarily based on College of Florida satellite tv for pc photos, there’s nonetheless plenty of sargassum seaweed drifting towards the Caribbean, and the season will probably last more this yr.
