Rare sight:Waves of sea foam blanket Digha beach

“Most sea foam is not harmful to humans and is often an indication of a productive ocean ecosystem. But when large harmful algal blooms decay near shore, there are potential for impacts to human health and the environment.”

Biswabrata Goswami

Statesman News Service

MIDNAPORE, 16 MAY: With the cyclone Amphan hovering in the Bay of Bengal, the sea is spitting out foam – thanks to excessive dumping of waste. In an unexpected event which the locals have never seen at least here, waves of white foam blanketed Digha beach, which wears a deserted look now due to lockdown.

Bengal’s one of the popular sand showcases, Digha beach woke up to a strange but often brushed-aside sight of white cloud-like foams frothing up with each wave crashing onto the shore.

As most of the people are not aware about the incident, many of them were worried suspecting that it could have ill-effect on human lives.

But, environmentalists working in Digha said, “Most sea foam is not harmful to humans and is often an indication of a productive ocean ecosystem. But when large harmful algal blooms decay near shore, there are potential for impacts to human health and the environment.”

If you look at ocean water in a clear glass, you’ll see that it’s not clear but full of tiny particles. Seawater contains dissolved salts, proteins, fats, dead algae, detergents and other pollutants. If you shake this glass of ocean water vigorously, small bubbles will form on the surface of the liquid.

Sea foam forms under similar conditions – but on a much grander scale – when storms roll in and the ocean is agitated by wind and waves. The creation of sea foam can occur often in gargantuan proportions, the environmentalists said.

According to an oceanologist, sea foam is also known as spume, ocean foam or beach foam. It is caused when the sea becomes agitated, particularly when it contains higher concentrations of dissolved organic matter which can act as foaming agents. As the seawater is churned by breaking waves and surf next to the shore, the surfactants under turbulent conditions trap air, foaming persistent bubbles that stick to each other through surface tension.

Sea foam is a global phenomenon and it varies depending on location and the potential influence of the surrounding marine, freshwater, and/or terrestrial environments. Due to its low density and persistence, foam can be blown by strong on-shore winds from the beach face inland.

Mahmud Hossain, a former sabhadhipati of East Midnapore zilla-parishad said, “As the cyclonic storm is hovering over Bay of Bengal, the sea water is swirling and dissolved organic matters are coming out as a form of foam. This indicates how we polluted the sea for years. The sea is purifying itself by returning pollutants to humans”.