Glossary of Terms
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AlgaePonix
AlgaePonix™ is our proprietary smart paddock technology, integrating marine infrastructure, real-time sensing and monitoring with an AI-driven digital twin. Together, these systems enable us to monitor Sargassum health and environmental conditions and optimise our paddocks for storage or growth.
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Sargassum
A genus of brown seaweed, best known for two of its free-floating species: S. natans and S. fluitans.
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Brown Tide
Each year, starting in January, Sargassum washes up on Caribbean beaches in excessive quantities. If left uncollected, it forms a brown sludge in the shallow waters as it decomposes, releasing toxic gases, sucking oxygen out of the water and blocking light.
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Holopelagic
Organisms that spend their entire lifecycle in the open ocean and never attach to the seafloor.
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Blue carbon
Carbon that is captured or sequestered by the ocean and coastal ecosystems.
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Carbon sequestration
Any (natural or anthropogenic) process that results in the net, long-term storage of carbon. In the context of the climate crisis, the term is particularly used to describe methods used to remove carbon dioxide from the Earth's atmosphere.
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Carbon Sink
Any reservoir that is able to absorb and store more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases. For example, forests, oceans, wetlands and soils are all natural carbon sinks.
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Fucoidans
Long-chain sulfated polysaccharides (aka sugars) produced by brown algae. As these molecules are difficult to break down and therefore very long-lived, these types of algae are ideal for carbon sequestration.
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SeaClear
Seafields' integrated nearshore system for intercepting incoming problematic Sargassum influxes before it beaches, storing and stabilising it in AlgaePonix paddocks, and creating a controlled source of biomass
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Biostimulant
A product that stimulates natural plant processes to improve nutrient uptake, plant health, resilience and growth. Seaweed-derived biostimulants use naturally occurring compounds extracted from seaweed, and are widely used across agriculture, horticulture and turf management.