Bulding a Maxey-Riley framework for \emph{Sargassum} drift modeling

We describe a recently derived Maxey--Riley theory for the motion of isolated inertial (i.e., buoyant, finite-size) particles and propose an extension that involves elastically connecting the particles to simulate \emph{Sargassum} drift. We show that, if the connections are sufficiently stiff, elastic chains of inertial particles aggregate into mesoscale eddies independent of their polarity consistent with observations. Joint Work with Maria J. Olascoaga and Philippe Miron.