Mysterious Great Blob of Alaska Is Algae
Tests show Mysterious Alaska Blob Is Algae, not Sarah Palin, at least that is what the tests show.
The tests are back and the verdict on the gooey mystery glob seen floating in the Chukchi Sea and Arctic Ocean off Alaska’s northern shore is algae.
Ed Meggert of the Department of Environmental Conservation in Fairbanks stated that the results returned on Thursday showed it’s marine algae. Just a HUGE stringy batch of algae.
Miles of the thick, dark gunk had been spotted floating between Barrow and Wainwright, prompting North Slope Borough officials and the U.S. Coast Guard to investigate and a sample was sent to an Environmental Conservation lab in Palmer.
Mysterious Great Blob of Alaska Is Algae but, the announcement still leaves unanswered questions. Why is there so much of the algae and in a place where people say they have never seen anything like that?
Even the local hunters and whalers are puzzled. The Coast Guard labeled the substance biological, but knew little else. A borough official stated that the stuff had hairy strands in it and was tangled with jellyfish.
Terry Whitledge, director of the Institute of Marine Science at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, stated that ” I haven’t had a chance to look at a sample yet, but a friend with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration e-mailed him a picture. He, too, thinks it’s algae, though he said he doesn’t know why an unprecedented bloom appeared off the Arctic coast.
Even the Coast Guard took samples of the goop for a separate round of testing.
Mysterious Great Blob of Alaska Is Algae and nothing to be concerned about. For the full story, go to ADN.com.
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