been making headlines. out in the open ocean, it provides a marine habitat but when it hits our coasts, it becomes problematic. from releasing gases which can be harmful to human health to impacting local tourism and fishing, these massive, buoyant mats, which stretch like a carpet across the atlantic, make up the great sargassum belt. being more than 5,000 miles long, it's wider than brazil. and last year, it weighed over 2a million tonnes, making it a continent—sized blob of seaweed. in fact, it is so vast that it's visible from space and scientists have been studying its explosion using satellite imagery. the exact reasons for the boom are unclear but it's believed that rising temperatures and agricultural waste are contributing