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:
Low Oxygen Levels, Coral Bleaching Getting Worse in Oceans
By Seth Borenstein / U.S. News January 4, 2018 Two new studies show global warming is making oceans sicker, depleting oxygen and harming coral reefs. Global warming is making the world's oceans sicker, depleting them [...]
Corn’s Ancestor Could Help It Go Green
By Alex Fox / EOS January 4, 2018 The grandfather of modern corn may hold the key to reducing its need for chemical fertilizers. Ears of corn (maize), showing a wide range of colors [...]
Oceans suffocating as huge dead zones quadruple since 1950, scientists warn
By Damian Carrington / The Guardian January 4, 2018 Areas starved of oxygen in open ocean and by coasts have soared in recent decades, risking dire consequences for marine life and humanity Ocean dead zones [...]
Oxygen levels in Earth’s oceans continue to drop
By UPI January 4, 2018 Regions of low-oxygen and no-oxgyen in Earth’s oceans are growing in size and number, according to a new study — the most comprehensive survey of ocean oxygen levels to date. [...]
Lowering the temperature on nitrogen splitting
By Sam Lemonick / c&en January 3, 2018 Computer simulations predict a new light-activated catalyst could make the Haber-Bosch process obsolete The world relies on the Haber-Bosch process to reduce atmospheric nitrogen to ammonia to [...]
Group hopes new deal will help shrink Gulf dead zone
By Keith Magill / Daily Comet January 2, 2018 A local wetlands advocacy group has forged an agreement it hopes will help reduce the size of the Gulf of Mexico dead zone The Thibodaux-based Barataria-Terrebonne [...]
The Most Overlooked Environmental Crisis of 2017
By Emily Atkin / New Republic December 13, 2017 Apocalyptic weather dominated the headlines, but meat production also caused severe destruction in 2017. Off the coast of Louisiana, in an 8,000-square-mile swath of ocean, the [...]