'Dead zone' the size of Connecticut expected along Louisiana coast, scientists say By Mark Schleifstein, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune24 June 2014 Size of low-oxygen dead zone measured each July along Louisiana's coast since 1985, in orange. Estimated size of this year's low-oxygen area, in red, based on the amount of nitrogen carried by the Mississippi River [...]
LUMCON Executive Director Nancy Rabalais leads discussion at Our Oceans symposium By Dr. Nancy Rabalais, LUMCON21 June 2014Secretary of State John Kerry hosted an international symposium Our Ocean to take steps to create a healthier ocean. The conference, held at the State Department on June 16-18, focused on three key issues sustainable fisheries, marine pollution, [...]
Runoff data empowers farmers to do more, specialist says By Forrest Laws, Delta Farm Press16 June 2014 MIKE DANIELS, center left, blue shirt, talks about the nutrient monitoring program he and other University of Arkansas specialists are conducting on Arkansas' Discovery Farms during a tour for members of the Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Task Force [...]
New 12-State Task Force Aims to Shrink Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone Down to Size By Andrew Burger, Triple Pundit22 May 2014The northern Gulf of Mexico has long served as an illustration of the dangers and economic costs associated with marine hypoxia. Also called “dead zones,” marine hypoxia is a shortage of oxygen in ocean [...]
New tool used to measure Gulf oxygen levels By Eric Berger, Houston Chronicle20 June 2014 GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — A team of Texas scientists this week are releasing four torpedo-like, remote-controlled gliders into the northern Gulf of Mexico to measure oxygen levels, bringing researchers closer to a long-cherished goal of broadly monitoring the health of the [...]
Report: Nebraska's waterways are 6th worst in nation for pollution By Algis Laukaitis, Lincoln Journal Star19 June 2014Nebraska's waterways are the sixth worst in the nation for toxic pollution, and most of the contamination is because of nitrates, according to a report released Thursday. In 2012, industrial facilities dumped 10.5 million pounds of toxic chemicals [...]
Study urges sustainable corn production, warns of climate change danger By Nicholas Bergin, Lincoln Journal Star14 June 2014Corn farmers could see growing pressure from the companies that buy their golden kernels to adopt sustainable practices, according to a new report that warns of price swings, risk of groundwater depletion and nitrogen runoff contributing to the [...]
Flood water can contaminate private wells By Lincoln Journal Star6 June 2014 Report: Nebraska's waterways are 6th worst in nation for pollution Nebraska's waterways are the sixth worst in the nation for toxic pollution, and most of the contamination is because of nitrates, according t… Read more Private drinking-water wells may have been inundated with storm [...]
Louisiana shrimp season threatened by US ethanol policy: Larry McKinney By NOLA.com16 June 2014Louisiana's spring shrimp season is officially open, but what should be a time to celebrate the annual kickoff of a key driver of the coastal economy is now overshadowed by a looming threat to the Gulf of Mexico's fragile ecosystem. The "dead zone" -- a Connecticut-sized [...]
How much fertilizer is too much for Earth's climate? By National Science Foundation9 June 2014 Applying nitrogen fertilizer to corn at the NSF Kellogg Biological Station LTER site. Credit and Larger Version The following is part fifteen in a series on the National Science Foundation's Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network. Visit parts one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine,ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, and fourteen. Helping farmers [...]