Jcwinnie previously noted, it is likely that the GOM (Gulf Of Mexico) Dead Zone will worsen since petroleum is important to the manufacturer of commercial fertilizers and feed lots are a principle source of manure. Ecologists attribute the worsening situation to commercial fertilizer runoff and animal manure discharge, compounded by human waste from urban areas in Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio and Mississippi.
"Summertime satellite observations show highly turbid waters in the Gulf of Mexico which may include large blooms of phytoplankton extending from the mouth of the Mississippi River all the way to the Texas coast. When these blooms die and sink to the bottom, bacterial decomposition strips oxygen from the surrounding water, creating an environment very difficult for marine life to survive in. Reds and oranges represent high concentrations of phytoplankton and river sediment."
The Energy and Global Warming News for June 19th encapsulated for us by Climate Progress includes a forecast that this summer, the 'dead zone' could be largest on record.
The Gulf of Mexico's oxygen-depleted "dead zone" could be one of the largest on record this year, a federal scientific team said today.
Seasonal oxygen levels could drop too low to support aquatic life in an area the size of New Jersey, according to the team supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Scientists forecast the dead zone at between 7,350 and 8,456 square miles, with a strong chance of it growing larger, given the recent flooding of the Mississippi River. The largest dead zone on record was 8,484 square miles in 2002.