Researchers from Texas A&M University who have just returned from a visit to the Gulf of Mexico to explore the scope and size of this year’s dead zone have measured it to be currently around 8,500 square kilometres; approximately the same size as the states of Delaware and Rhode Island combined.
However researchers believe that 2011′s dead zone may continue to grow and become one of the largest ever, thanks in part to the record amounts of water being deposited into the Gulf from the Mississippi River.
Lead by Steve DiMarco, an oceanography professor at Texas A&M, the team of researchers traveled more than 2,300 kilometres throughout the Gulf of Mexico over a five day period. This was the first ever mission to focus on the dead zone’s size in June.
The dead zone off the coast of Louisiana has been continually monitored for about 25 years, and previous research has shown that nitrogen levels in the Gulf of Mexico intrinsically related to human activities have risen by 3 times over the past 50 years. Over the past 5 years, the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico has averaged around 15,000 square kilometres, but is predicted to exceed 24,000 square kilometres this year, making it one of the largest ever recorded, according to the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium.
Source: Planetsave (2011 Gulf Dead Zone Could Be Biggest Ever | Planetsave)
However researchers believe that 2011′s dead zone may continue to grow and become one of the largest ever, thanks in part to the record amounts of water being deposited into the Gulf from the Mississippi River.
Lead by Steve DiMarco, an oceanography professor at Texas A&M, the team of researchers traveled more than 2,300 kilometres throughout the Gulf of Mexico over a five day period. This was the first ever mission to focus on the dead zone’s size in June.
The dead zone off the coast of Louisiana has been continually monitored for about 25 years, and previous research has shown that nitrogen levels in the Gulf of Mexico intrinsically related to human activities have risen by 3 times over the past 50 years. Over the past 5 years, the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico has averaged around 15,000 square kilometres, but is predicted to exceed 24,000 square kilometres this year, making it one of the largest ever recorded, according to the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium.
Source: Planetsave (2011 Gulf Dead Zone Could Be Biggest Ever | Planetsave)