Are the hurricanes causing the ocean in Myrtle Beach to stink? People reporting it smells
People in Myrtle Beach Facebook groups are reporting Wednesday that the Atlantic Ocean has a strong stench, hypothesizing that it may be a result of recent hurricanes.
But a trip to the beach at 82nd Avenue North in Myrtle Beach didn’t result in any great smell coming from the ocean, with the water having its signature briny scent.
While some hypothesized it could be run-off from Hurricane Helene, which devastated the western side of the Carolinas with intense rainfall, flooding and mud slides, Reed Hawkins with the National Weather Service in Wilmington, North Carolina, said it’s likely not that.
Flood waters from Hurricane Helene have not drained heavily into the Waccamaw River, which connects to the ocean in Georgetown. The Instracoastal Waterway also runs from the Waccamaw River to the ocean in North Myrtle Beach.
If people are smelling something from the ocean, it could be they walked past something stinky on the beach and attributed it to the ocean.
However, there could be a possibility that people are smelling the briny stench of the sea, which is a sulfur compound called dimethyl sulfide, or DMS, a key player in ocean ecosystems and weather patterns, according to an article in Wired.
Scientists from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel figured out how a particular ocean algae, which dwells in the upper sunlit part of the sea, makes the aromatic chemical. It’s the enzyme that the algae uses that gives the beach its special stink.
This story was originally published October 9, 2024 at 2:03 PM.
