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Ocean color satellites show extensive surface lines of floating vegetation in the Gulf of Mexico Jim Gower, Chuanmin Hu, … Abstract We present satellite imagery showing extensive lines of floating sargassum biomass in the western Gulf of Mexico in the summer of 2005. Satellite observations were made with MERIS which provides a positive signal in the MCI (Maximum Chlorophyll Index) used to detect surface plankton blooms, and with MODIS which provides a negative fluorescence signal where the reflected radiance from the plants exceeds that from chlorophyll fluorescence. Observations suggest sargassum biomass of about 20 g/m2, equivalent to about 20 mg/m2 of chlorophyll a over large areas of the western Gulf of Mexico during the summer of 2005, showing that sargassum is a significant component of oceanic productivity in this area and period. MERIS observations show lower concentrations in 2003, and have also detected similar lines in Gulf Stream water off the east coast of the US, and as far north as 42 N. Introduction The area of the North Atlantic from 20 to 35 N and 30 to 70 W has been called the Sargasso Sea after the floating weed (Sargassum natans or Sargassum fluitans) commonly encountered there. However, the area where this weed is found extends into the Gulf of Mexico as well as to other parts of the world. Early reports of distribution and abundance of the weed in the Sargasso Sea were summarized by Winge (1923), and visual observations of the lines in which it is commonly observed were used by Langmuir (1938) in his description of Langmuir circulation. This circulation results in surface convergence of floating weed and other material into lines oriented along the wind direction, with typical separations of 20 to 50 m (Faller and Woodcock, 1964). The present satellite observations relate to larger-area patterns where lines on the order of 100 to 1000 m wide are separated by tens of kilometers. Surface convergence on this larger scale are due to