Scientists have found this year’s Gulf of Mexico dead zone, an area of low to no oxygen that can kill fish and marine life, is with 6,474 square miles above average in size and larger than forecast by NOAA in June.
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The larger than expected forecast was caused by heavy June rains throughout the Mississippi River watershed.
The measured size this year — an area about the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined — is larger than the 5,052 square miles measured last year, indicating that nutrients from the Mississippi River watershed are continuing to affect the nation’s coastal resources and habitats in the Gulf.
The size is larger than the Gulf of Mexico / Mississippi River Watershed Nutrient Task Force (Hypoxia Task Force) target of 1,900 square miles.
Funded by NOAA and the EPA, the annual measurement mapping of the dead zone provides a critical scientific record of the trend of hypoxia in the Gulf, as well as the primary measure of progress used by the Hypoxia Task Force to determine whether efforts to reduce nutrient loading upstream in the Mississippi River Basin are yielding results
This year marks the 30th annual ship-based sampling that is the backbone of the mapping effort.
The largest previous Gulf of Mexico dead zone was in 2002, encompassing 8,497 square miles. The smallest recorded dead zone measured 15 square miles in 1988. The average size of the dead zone over the past five years has been about 5,500 square miles, nearly three times the 1,900 square mile goal set by the Hypoxia Task Force in 2001 and reaffirmed in 2008.
The hypoxic zone off the coast of Louisiana and Texas forms each summer threatening the ecosystem that supports valuable commercial and recreational Gulf fisheries.
NOAA-funded research in the past decade shows hypoxia results in habitat loss, displacement of fish (including shrimp and croaker) from their preferred areas, and a decline in reproductive ability in some species. ■
A trailing cold front in connection with a low pressure system currently moving east across the Great Lakes toward New England will bring a chance of rain into the eastern U.S. on this first day of November following an exceptionally dry October for this part of the country.