Small Gulf of Mexico dead zone likely due to drought By Deanna Conners, Earth Trekker Blog, EarthSky 8 August 2012    The 2012 Gulf of Mexico dead zone is the fourth smallest since mapping began in 1985 – likely due to drought-induced low amounts of runoff into the Mississippi.   The oxygen-starved dead zone in [...]

Researcher: Smaller 'dead zone' recorded in Gulf By Associated Press28 July 2012NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A new report says this year's Gulf of Mexico "dead zone," an area of low oxygen that develops every spring and summer, is the fourth-smallest since measurements of the zones began in 1985. The zone measured 2,889 square miles, according [...]

Gulf of Mexico's dead zone is smaller in size, not impact: An editorial By Editorial page staff, The Times-Picayune 31 July 2012Scientists say the dead zone off Louisiana's coast this summer is one of the smallest since mapping began 27 years ago, but that's not cause for celebration.   The area of low oxygen didn't shrink this year because [...]

Big Drought Makes for a Small Dead Zone By By KELLY SLIVKA, New York Times, Green Blog2 August 2012  The dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico, outlined in red, were far smaller than last summer’s when measured at the end of July. In yet another display of the inexorable interdependence of Earth’s ecosystems, a [...]

NOAA scientists: Midwest drought brings fourth smallest Gulf of Mexico 'Dead Zone' since 1985 By NOAA27 July 2012NOAA-supported scientists have found the size of this year’s Gulf of Mexico oxygen-free ‘dead zone’ to be the fourth smallest since mapping of the annual hypoxic, or oxygen-free area began in 1985. Measuring approximately 2,889 square miles, the [...]

Blooming horrible By The Economist23 June 2012 Too much of a good thing SOUTH-EAST of New Orleans, where the Mississippi empties into the Gulf of Mexico, the North American land mass does not end so much as gently give up. Land subsides to welts of green poking up through the water, and the river grows [...]

Dead Zone Pollution Is Growing Despite Decades of Work, So Who's the Culprit? By Sara Shipley Hiles, Environmental Health News12 July 2012 In July 2011, the Gulf of Mexico's dead zone was about 6,800 square miles. Photo Credit: Nasa.gov HERMANN, Mo. – The Missouri River stretches more than a quarter-mile from shore to shore here, its [...]

Living in the dead zone By MELISSA HOLMAN, Point of VueJune 2012  Dr. Nancy Rabalais spends a lot of time on the water. It’s where she’s at peace with nature—and it’s also where her lifelong passion lives ... or dies.  Late U.S. Sen. John Heinz once used the phrase “shared ideals realized” to express his [...]

Oceans of pollution By Dahr Jamail, Aljazeera18 Jun 2012 Plastic pollution in the oceans has risen alarmingly over the past four decades [EPA] A drumbeat of recent scientific studies emphasises an increasingly alarming convergence of crises for Earth's oceans. The amount of plastic floating in the Pacific Gyre - a massive swirling vortex of rubbish - [...]

Gulf Coast energy, fishing industries should adapt now to climate change, new report says By Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune6 June 2012 The energy and fishing industries along the Gulf of Mexico must begin now to adapt to the effects of climate change, including rising sea levels, more intense hurricanes, loss of coastal wetlands, and the biological effects of warmer water [...]