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 [...]
Inaction feeds crisis over Mississippi River, environmentalists say By Greg Gordon, The Sacramento Bee11 June 2014 WASHINGTON -- Decades of shortsighted decisions by industry and government have put the Mississippi River’s future at risk, and degradation at its southern Louisiana delta is contributing to “the greatest land loss on the planet,” a five-state environmental coalition warned [...]
House Passes Poseys Bill For Algae Bloom Research By Space Coast Daily9 June 2014 ABOVE VIDEO: Congressman Bill Posey speaks on the House floor in support of important bipartisan legislation to fund research of algae blooms and hypoxia events which are harmful to natural habitats like the Indian River Lagoon. June 9, 2014. WASHINGTON [...]
Economists must work together with scientists to address the problem of dead zones such as the one in the Gulf of Mexico. By Sergey Rabotyagov, Catherine Kling, Philip Gassman, Nancy Rabalais, R. Eugene Turner, The London School of Economics and Political Science26 March 2014The United States is home to the second largest hypoxic (or dead [...]
Hydrologists find Mississippi River network's buffering system for nitrates is overwhelmed By ScienceDaily.com11 May 2014 The map shows the fractional amount of surface water that is likely to enter the hyporheic zone, where it can undergo filtration. Orange and red represent areas experiencing a lower fraction of water entering the hyporheic zone. Dark blue areas [...]