Thursday, June 27, 2013
Necrotizing the Gulf of Mexico
Looks like it will be a banner year for the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. The conditions so far have been right for the biggest on ever, as big as New Jersey, another well known dead zone.
The Gulf of Mexico could see a record-size dead zone this year of oxygen-deprived waters resulting from pollution, US scientists have cautioned based on government data models.What the hell, it's only water. Amirite?
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s forecasts said the dead zone could be as large as New Jersey, or up to 8,561 square miles (22,172 square kilometers).
Dead zones are toxic to marine life and are caused by excessive nutrient pollution due to agriculture runoff. They are influenced by weather, precipitation, wind and temperature.
When there is little oxygen in the water, most marine life near the bottom is unable to survive.
“This year’s prediction for the Gulf reflects flood conditions in the Midwest that caused large amounts of nutrients to be transported from the Mississippi watershed to the Gulf,” NOAA said in a statement.
“Last year’s dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico was the fourth smallest on record due to drought conditions, covering an area of approximately 2,889 square miles.”
The final results will not be known until August. If the region gets a big tropical storm between early July and early August, the estimate would drop to 5,344 square miles.
Over the past five years, the Gulf’s dead zone has averaged about 5,600 square miles.
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