A giant algae bloom in China has turned an area the size of Connecticut bright green, and some people are loving it. The enthusiastic swimmers will most likely change their mind when the algae starts to rot, giving off smelly and dangerous gas.
The Chinese coastal city of Qingdao is looking at a record-breaking algae bloom infestation that left the bordering waters bright green, according to the New York Times.
The area was taken over by what the Chinese affectionately call "sea lettuce." The blooms are harmless to humans, but it could interfere with marine life and tourism. The algae will release hydrogen sulphide gas when it begins to decompose, which is toxic and smells like rotten eggs.
People seem to be taking the phenomenon lightly; many pictures have surfaced online of swimmers playing in the bright-green blooms. Local officials are not as amused, having declared the situation a "large-scale algae disaster." The officials are attempting to clean up the mess with bulldozers and boats.
The "green tide" is twice the size of an outbreak that took place in 2008 in Beijing, which cost about $30 million to clean up. In 2009 a green tide the size of West Virginia took over an area of the Yellow Sea. The sea has the largest annual blooms, producing millions of ton of biomass every year.
Scientists are not sure why these blooms occurred, but it could have something to do with pollution and seaweed over-farming further south.
Some researchers believe the blooms originate in seaweed farms. The farms grow nori seaweed on large rafts which attract a type of algae called ulva prolifera, when the farmers clean these blooms off the rafts they are released into the warm, nutrient-rich, Yellow Sea.
"It feeds off those nutrients and grows bigger and bigger and eventually you can see it from satellites," John Keesing, a scientist at the CSIRO Division of Marine and Atmospheric Research in Australia said. "The currents gently move the algae in a northeastern direction out into the center of the Yellow Sea. You get a huge amount, and eventually it starts to wash on shore."
Keesing suggested disposing of the algae clinging to the growing rafts.
"We haven't suggested people stop growing porphyra, but proper husbandry methods to prevent much of the waste algae from going into sea, that's probably the only preventive measure that could be deployed," he said.
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