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Hypoxia In The News

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Hypoxia continues to draw attention worldwide as a critical issue affecting people and ecosystems. A wealth of articles online discuss both the problem and its solutions.

Upper Mississippi River Basin Association releases new report

The Upper Mississippi River Basin Association recently released a new report as part of a project to aid in the implementation of Clean Water Act programs on the Upper Mississippi River, both to achieve greater interstate consistency and to enhance water quality protection. The report, "Upper Mississippi River Nutrient Monitoring, Occurrence, and Local Impacts: A Clean Water Act Perspective," is available for download here: http://umrba.org/wq/umr-nutrients.pdf

2011 Gulf Dead Zone: Smaller than predicted, still exceeds Task Force goal

Scientists have returned from mapping the 2011 area of hypoxia, commonly known as the "Dead Zone," along the Louisiana coast. This year‟s zone is 17,520 square kilometers, or 6,765 square miles. This extent across the seafloor is larger than average, but below the large size expected following record-breaking flow of the Mississippi River this spring and summer. Chief Scientist, Dr. Nancy Rabalais, reported that "the major disruptor of the size was Tropical Storm Don that followed the Research Vessel Pelican across the Gulf of Mexico towards Texas and whipped up the winds and waves." Mixing of the water column re-supplies oxygen to the lower layers and reduces the area of low oxygen, at least temporarily.

To read the press release, please visit: www.gulfhypoxia.net

Recent Press:

"Scientists: dead zone stresses Gulf, action needed"
Cain Burdeau, Forbes.com, August 3, 2011

"Did a Storm Distort Mapping of a Gulf 'Dead Zone'?"
Joanna M. Foster, The New York Times, August 1, 2011

"Gulf 'dead zone' smaller than 2010's"
Amy Wold, The Advocate, August 8, 2011

New and Improved EPA Website on Nitrogen & Phosphorus Pollution

Over the last 50 years, the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus pollution entering our waters has escalated dramatically, and is becoming one of America's costliest and most challenging environmental problems. In many parts of the country, nitrogen and phosphorus pollution negatively impacts human health, aquatic ecosystems, the economy, and people’s quality of life.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed a new and improved website about nitrogen and phosphorus pollution to provide the public with information about this type of pollution-- where it comes from, its impacts on human health and aquatic ecosystems, and actions that people can take to help reduce it.

EPA’s new website also includes updated information on states’ progress in developing numeric water quality criteria for nutrients as part of their water quality standards regulations. EPA recognizes that states and local communities are best positioned to restore and protect their waters, and the agency is providing technical guidance and tools to help states develop numeric nutrient criteria for their water bodies.

To facilitate state and local efforts to reduce nutrient pollution, EPA is releasing a new Nitrogen and Phosphorus Pollution Data Access Tool. The goal of the tool is to support states in their nitrogen and phosphorus analyses by providing the most current data available on:  the extent and magnitude of nitrogen and phosphorus pollution; water quality problems related to this pollution; and potential pollution sources in a format that is readily-accessible and easy-to-use.  With this comprehensive data, EPA, the states, and other stakeholders will be able to more quickly gather additional, less-accessible data and develop effective source reduction strategies for nitrogen and phosphorus.

The website is available at: http://www.epa.gov/nutrientpollution/ 

2011 Forecast: Summer Hypoxic Zone Size, Northern Gulf of Mexico

The record-breaking floods from the Mississippi River in 2011 are predicted to create the largest “Dead Zone” along the Louisiana shore. This zone continues to threaten living resources including humans that depend on fish, shrimp and crabs. Excess nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus, cause huge algae blooms whose decomposition leads to oxygen distress and even organism death in the Gulf's richest waters.

The June 2011 forecast of the size of the hypoxic zone in the northern Gulf of Mexico for July 2011 is that it will cover between 22,253 to 26,515 km2 (average 24,400 km2; 9,421 mi2) of the bottom of the continental shelf off Louisiana and Texas. The predicted hypoxic area is about the size of the combined land area of New Jersey and Delaware, or the size of Lake Erie.

The estimate is based on the May nitrogen loading (as nitrate+nitrite) from the Mississippi watershed to the Gulf of Mexico estimated by the U.S. Geological Survey. If the area of hypoxia becomes this large, then it will be the largest since systematic mapping of the hypoxic zone began in 1985.

To learn more, visit: gulfhypoxia.net

Nutrient Flux for the Mississippi River Basin and Subbasins

USGS has monitored streamflow and water quality in the Mississippi River Basin (MRB) for decades. Increasingly, management concerns have focused on delivery of streamflow and nutrients to the Gulf of Mexico because of their influence on the formation and extent of a zone of hypoxic waters in the northern Gulffor subbasins are important because they provide a means to identify the primary source areas and the relative contributions of both streamflow and nutrients from different parts of the Basin.

To learn more, visit: USGS - Nutrient Flux for the Mississippi River Basin and Subbasins

Floods Raise Runoff Concerns: Implications for Hypoxia

The Ohio and Mississippi River levels were falling Wednesday at the site where engineers blasted holes in a Missouri levee to relieve pressure. But unleashing torrents of water across 35 miles of farmland in what has already been a terrible flooding season could carry other consequences.

One risk, scientists cautioned, is fertilizer runoff from the flooded farm country along the Mississippi. As it moves downstream, they predicted it would contribute to the largest-ever summertime depletion of oxygen in the Gulf of Mexico, posing a substantial risk to marine life. Read more from the May 5, 2011 Wall Street Journal Article...

Tracking Marine Dead Zones Worldwide: A New Web-based Tool

A new web-based tool graphically illustrations eutrophic and/or hypoxic conditions in some 762 coastal areas worldwide. The tool identifies:

  • 479 sites as experiencing hypoxia,

  • 55 sites that once experienced hypoxia but are now improving, and

  • 228 sites that experience other symptoms of eutrophication, including algal blooms, species loss, and impacts to coral reef assemblages.

These data were compiled using a literature search conducted by Dr. Robert Diaz of VIMS and WRI staff. Because this map depends on available data, geographic areas with more data availability (such as the United States) may show relatively more problem areas compared to areas with less data.

The researchers seek information that will help them to ensure that this dataset is accurate and up-to-date. To contact them for more information or provide feedback, visit: http://www.wri.org/project/eutrophication/map

See also: New Web-Based Map Tracks Marine Dead Zones Worldwide

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Size of the 2010 Hypoxic Zone: 5th Largest Ever

Recent data gathered by Dr. Nancy Rabalais and a team of scientists from Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) shows that an area of low oxygen sufficient to limit or prohibit marine life covers 20,000 square kilometers, or 7,722 square miles, in the northern Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana. The 2010 hypoxic zone ranks fifth in size since measurements first began in 1985, and is roughly the size of Massachusetts. The largest zone prior to this year was measured in 2002 at 22,000 square kilometers (8,500 square miles).

The hypoxic zone in the northern Gulf of Mexico is nearly the largest in the world averaging 17,300 square kilometers (6,700 square miles) over the past five years; it is second only to the hypoxic zone in the Baltic Sea.

Visit GulfHypoxia.net to learn more about the 2010 Northern Gulf of Mexico Hypoxic Zone or download the Press Release.

Expedition: Blue Planet with Alexandra Cousteau

Alexandra Cousteau, the granddaughter of the famous explorer, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, is a social environmental advocate dedicated to the conservation and sustainable management of water resources. Through her new organization, Blue Legacy, Alexandra is traveling the globe, telling the story of our water planet to the world, including the critical issue of hypoxia in the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin. Through a blog, photos and video, Alexandra and her team present a compelling picture of how the waters of the Gulf and the people who depend on them are affected by this growing concern.

Visit the Blue Planet Web site to learn more.

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