GoM ‘dead zone’ may be size of NJ

This summer’s Gulf of Mexico “dead zone” - an area of low-or-no oxygen that can kill marine life – has been estimated to be about 8,185 square miles or nearly the size of New Jersey, according to federal scientists’ predictions. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration believe it would be the third largest dead zone recorded since monitoring began in 1985. The average GoM dead zone has been 5,309 square miles. The low-or-no oxygen zones are caused by excess nutrient pollution, primarily from agriculture and wastewater treatment. The low-or-no oxygen levels are insufficient to support most marine life. May’s heavy stream flows were estimated to have dumped 165,000 metric tons of nitrate and 22,600 metric tons of phosphorus down the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers into the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. Geological Survey operates more than 3,000 stream gauges, 60 nitrate sensors, and tracks trends in nutrient loads and concentrations throughout the Mississippi-Atchafalaya watershed, which drains from 31 states. Plans to confirm the size of the dead zone will be made in August, following monitoring surveys. (Source: Marine Link 06/26/17)