A 5,000-mile stretch of smelly seaweed, known as sargassum, is drifting toward the Gulf of Mexico and Florida shores. The mass, referred to as the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt, is expected to make landfall across coastlines this summer, threatening potential tourists and beachgoers with its sulfur-like smell.

Here & Now‘s Deepa Fernandes speaks with Brian Lapointe, a research professor at Florida Atlantic University, about what’s driving this unusually large bloom.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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