Kimberly Rodgers | NOAA 13 June 2024 Low oxygen conditions expected to impact 5,827 square-mile area NOAA is forecasting an above-average summer “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico covering approximately 5,827 square miles — an area roughly the size of Connecticut. The dead zone, or hypoxic area, is an area of low oxygen that [...]

Renowned marine biologist Nancy Rabalais stands at the stern of the research vessel the Acadiana in Cocodrie, La., Wednesday, March 15. (Lauren Whiddon/WUFT News) Gulf of Mexico dead zone researcher Nancy Rabalais leaves legacy for new generation Scientists expect to release forecast for the size of this year’s oxygen-depleted zone this week [...]

Tyler Wittkofsky | NOAA 2 August 2023 Today, NOAA-supported scientists announced that this year’s Gulf of Mexico “dead zone”— an area of low to no oxygen that can kill fish and marine life — is approximately 3,058 square miles. That’s almost two million acres of habitat potentially unavailable to fish and bottom species — [...]

Tyler Wittkofsky | NOAA 5 June 2023 NOAA is forecasting a summer “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico that will cover approximately 4,155 square miles, making it below the 5,364 square mile average over the 36-year history of dead zone measurements in the region. The dead zone, or hypoxic area, is an area [...]

Atmospheric scientists noted the trend was prevalent in nearly every region of the country. Matthew Cappucci | The Washington Post 11 October 2022 When it rains, it pours. A paper published Tuesday in the journal Geophysical Research Letters finds that it’s raining harder in most of the United States. The study, written by researchers at [...]

Rachel Tucker | The Washington Post 13 March 2023 TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Marine scientists are tracking a 5,000-mile-wide seaweed bloom that is so large, it can be seen from space. These sargassum blooms are nothing new, but scientists say this one could be the largest in history. At last check, it was heading [...]

Joshua Rosenberg | The Lens3 AUGUST 2022The so-called dead zone where the Mississippi River dumps into the Gulf of Mexico, an area of low oxygen that cannot sustain life, clocked in at 3,275 square miles this year. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced the size Wednesday, noting that it is below the recent [...]

Mark Schleifstein | NOLA.com 3 August 2022 Scientists measuring the low-oxygen dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico this summer found a mix of good and bad news: It covered only 3,275 square miles of bottom waters, less than half the size of last year. But that was still larger than the combined areas [...]

Donald Boesch & Donald Scavia | The Conversation 18 July 2022 Midsummer is the time for forecasts of the size of this year’s “dead zones” and algal blooms in major lakes and bays. Will the Gulf of Mexico dead zone be the size of New Jersey, or only as big as Connecticut? Will Lake Erie’s [...]

Mark Schleifstein | NOLA.com 25 June 2022 The record June heat wave in southern Louisiana, with water temperatures edging into the mid-90s on Friday in Lake Pontchartrain and along the Gulf Coast, is serving up a triple whammy of water-related dangers: an elevated risk of intense hurricanes, an increased number of dangerous Vibrio bacteria infections, and [...]