A massive Sargassum bloom is spreading across the Atlantic, but Florida’s beaches are likely to stay clear this season. Discover how ocean currents and advanced satellite tracking are keeping the seaweed offshore—and why the Caribbean is facing greater impacts.

In March, the blob made landfall at numerous Florida beaches, covering them in seaweed. Now, the blob is reportedly headed to Galveston, Texas.

TAMPA, Fla. - A record-breaking mass of smelly seaweed stretching from West Africa to the Gulf of Mexico has been identified using satellite imagery. The seaweed bloom, called the great Atlantic Sargassum belt, is the largest ever of its kind, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of Southern Florida used satellite imagery to determine that the giant floating mass of seaweed is a whopping 8,850 kilometers (5,000 miles) long. Scientists first noticed that seaweed was spreading rapidly across the Atlantic and growing in mass in 2011. The seaweed explosion is also indicative of bigger problems, Wang said.