2019 Shelfwide Cruise
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:
Mississippi Beaches Have Been Vacant For Two Months As A Toxic Algae Bloom Lurks Offshore
Rocky Kistner / HuffPost ENVIRONMENT 08 September 2019 An algal bloom in the Gulf is devastating coastal businesses. Ship Island Excursions has survived hurricanes, global recessions, a world war and a host of economic challenges [...]
Polluting Farmers Should Pay
Catherine Kling / New York Times 26 August 2019 Dr. Kling is an environmental economist at Cornell University. Fertilizer runoff is making us sick. States can step in to regulate farmers. This year’s dead zone in [...]
Too Much of a Good Thing is ….
TUWaterWays Water News and More from the Tulane Institute on Water Resources Law & Policy 23 August 2019 If a bit of something is good for you then surely a lot of it has to [...]
Large 2019 dead zone in Gulf of Mexico
Deanna Conners / EarthSky 16 August 2019 This year’s Gulf of Mexico dead zone of oxygen-depleted waters is the 8th largest ever recorded. A dead zone of oxygen-depleted waters forms every summer in the Gulf of Mexico [...]
The Never Ending Story
TUWaterWays Water News and More from the Tulane Institute on Water Resources Law & Policy 16 August 2019 In deciding what items to highlight in this week’s TUWW we did what we always do. We culled [...]
Why is Louisiana seeing more ‘showers on steroids,’ intense downpours these days?
Charles Lussier / The Advocate 11 August 2019 If it seems like rainfalls in south Louisiana are becoming more intense and flash flooding more frequent, it’s not your imagination. A new research study led by [...]
Hurricane Barry v. Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone: Who Won?
TUWaterWays Water News and More from the Tulane Institute on Water Resources Law and Policy 8 August 2019 Remember Hurricane Barry? It was the storm that coincided with elevated Mississippi River levels and, consequently, looked [...]