What is hypoxia?
Hypoxia, or low oxygen, is an environmental phenomenon where the concentration of dissolved oxygen in the water column decreases to a level that can no longer support living aquatic organisms. Hypoxic areas, or “Dead Zones,” have increased in duration and frequency across our planet’s oceans since first being noted in the 1970s.
The largest hypoxic zone currently affecting the United States, and the second largest hypoxic zone worldwide, is the northern Gulf of Mexico adjacent to the Mississippi River.
Gulf hypoxia in the news:
More Intense Rains in U.S. Midwest Tied to Farm Mechanization
By Bas den Hond | EoS April 28, 2017 Replacement of horses by machines since the 1940s allowed central U.S. farmers to change the crops they planted, which may have altered regional climate. A [...]
Gulf Dead Zone Makes for Shrimpier Shrimp
By Christopher Intagliata | Scientific American February 8, 2017 The low-oxygen waters of the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico result in smaller shrimp, and a spike in large shrimp prices. Christopher Intagliata reports. [...]
Price of Shrimp Impacted by Gulf of Mexico “Dead Zone”
By NOAA January 30, 2017 The low oxygen conditions slow shrimp growth, leading to fewer and more expensive large shrimp A NOAA-funded study led by Duke University has found that the Gulf of Mexico “dead zone” drives [...]
Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone research
By Logan Hawkes | Southwest FarmPress November 8, 2016 "Dead Zones" linked to ag fertilizer use Management options studied Perennial buffer crops. Folks have heard a great deal of talk about the risks of algal [...]
Good News and Bad News on This Year’s Dead Zone Measurement
By Andrea Basche | Union of Concerned Scientists August 1, 2016 For the first time since monitoring began in 1985, there will be no official measurement of the Gulf of Mexico’s dead zone. Late last [...]
Die-off at marine sanctuary in Gulf worries scientists
By Harvey Rice | Houston Chronicle July 30, 2016 GALVESTON – A mass die-off of coral and other sea animals discovered this week on a reef in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary stunned [...]
‘Dead zone’ mapping cruise canceled for first time in 27 years
By Mark Schleifstein | The Times-Picayune July 29, 2016 The eight-day research cruise aimed at mapping the size of the summertime "dead zone" along Louisiana's coast has been cancelled for the first time in 27 [...]