Researchers from Florida State University are shedding light on nutrient levels in the Gulf of Mexico with new findings published this month in the Journal of Geophysical Research – Oceans.
The Gulf of Mexico receives considerable levels of nutrients from the rivers that empty into it, especially the Mississippi River, which causes the Gulf’s northern shelf waters to become overly enriched and more susceptible to algae growth. But scientists have remained unsure whether a significant portion of those nutrients ever leave the Gulf to potentially impact the chemistry of the North Atlantic Ocean.
“The Gulf of Mexico is an economically important body of water, as the surrounding areas rely on it for tourism, fisheries and oil production, and it also has significant ecological diversity,” said Samantha Howe, a graduate student in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, who led the research. “It is important to track the nutrient input from the Mississippi and Atchafalaya River System to the Gulf as those nutrients contribute to harmful algal blooms on the Northern Gulf Shelf.”
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