Environmental News Network - Large ‘Dead Zone’ Expected for Gulf of Mexico

Details: By University of Michigan; 08.Jun

University of Michigan scientists and their colleagues are forecasting this summer’s Gulf of Mexico hypoxic area or “dead zone”—an area of low to no oxygen that can kill fish and other marine life—to be approximately 6,700 square miles, roughly the size of Connecticut and Delaware combined.

Julie Swatson

University of Michigan scientists and their colleagues are forecasting this summer’s Gulf of Mexico hypoxic area or “dead zone”—an area of low to no oxygen that can kill fish and other marine life—to be approximately 6,700 square miles, roughly the size of Connecticut and Delaware combined.

The 2020 forecast is about 1,100 square miles smaller than last year and substantially less than the record of 8,776 square miles set in 2017—but still larger than the long-term average measured size of 5,387 square miles.

The annual forecast was released today by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which funds the work. The prediction is based on U.S. Geological Survey river flow and nutrient data.

A major factor contributing to this year’s above-average hypoxic zone are the high river flows and nutrient loads delivered to the Gulf this spring, primarily from the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers. This past May, discharge in the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers was about 30% above the long-term average between 1980 and 2019, according to USGS.

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Large ‘Dead Zone’ Expected for Gulf of Mexico