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The famous beaches of Australia’s golden coast were found in an almost invisible spot on Tuesday thanks to large amounts of thick foam. Foam is a natural phenomenon, but it has appeared in larger quantities than usual in the midst of another period of extreme weather in the country.
Some children and families headed to the beaches of Australia’s east coast to see the unusual occurrence and even play in the bubbles.
The foam is made up mainly of decomposing organic matter and presents little danger, according to experts.
“People get pretty alarmed when they see sea foam. But sea foam is largely protein that comes from the degradation of organic matter in the oceans and that would largely be plankton, algae, some fungus, some of bacteria and as it degrades it forms something that is like the surfactants or foaming agents we see in soap, ”Professor Jodie Rummer of James Cook University told Reuters.
“In general, these natural sea foam events are not harmful and are part of a natural cycle.”
But while the foam itself may not be a concern, it has been caused by the last period of extreme weather that has affected Australia.
An intense low-pressure system has triggered cyclonic conditions on the east coast in recent days with heavy rains, strong winds and the high seas engulfing entire beaches, including the main beach of the popular Byron Bay resort.
It comes just weeks after the evacuation of nearby Fraser Island due to bushfires and scientists have attributed the erratic conditions to the impact of the La Nina weather pattern combined with the long-term effects of climate change.
“Well, what we have here is another event. An extreme weather event that causes climate change in our community. It’s the fourth or fifth major event in the last two years,” said Simon Richardson, mayor of Byron Shire , he told Reuters.
“Right now, around Byron, we have severe weather, massive waves, we’re watching our beach disappear.”