This year's Gulf 'dead zone' among largest ever.. but not being blamed on BP spill.. yet.

[DCBob]

from NY Times..

The Gulf of Mexico's "dead zone" this year is among the largest on record, scientists tracking the oxygen-depleted area said yesterday. The sprawling area with levels of dissolved oxygen low enough to smother marine life is 7,722 square miles, the researchers said, slightly smaller than New Jersey.

The dead zone overlaps some waters exposed to crude from the damaged BP PLC oil well, but researchers said it is not clear if there is a connection between the spill and the size of the low-oxygen area. "It would be difficult to link conditions seen this summer with oil from the BP spill, in either a positive or a negative way," said Nancy Rabalais, executive director of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium and the leader of the annual dead-zone survey, which is now in its 25th year.

The dead zone does threaten Gulf fisheries that have already been squeezed by oil-spill closures. Excessive nutrients washing into the Gulf overfertilize the water and cause massive algae blooms. As the plants die and sink, they decompose and deplete dissolved oxygen. Bottom dwellers and other creatures that cannot flee are suffocated by falling oxygen levels.

Rabalais and her team started mapping the dead zone on July 24. They found the northwestern Gulf has a dead zone that sprawls over 7,722 square miles, which is just shy of the record 8,000 or so square miles measured in 2001. Rabalais said it is the largest hypoxic area she's seen between Galveston, Texas, and the Mississippi River's "bird foot" delta.

more: http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/08/03/03greenwire-this-years-gulf-dead-zone-among-largest-ever-24761.html

I suspect this is not related to BP spill. Galveston is quite a long distance from the well and there have been no reports of the oil moving in that direction.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. The Gulf spill sure did not make matters any better....

[DCBob]

2. for sure.. it has made a bad situation even worse but the Gulf has been a cesspool..

of pollution and toxins for decades. Maybe now there will be more attention paid to the matter.

[JuniperLea]

3. It's land-locked on three sides...

I'm sure the ocean currents aren't quite as strong in that area, which makes it all worse.

Galveston is a hell hole... the beaches have a foul smell on a good day.

[dipsydoodle]

4. Algae only lives for about 3 days

and its the live/die cycle which results in the dead zones. If anything oil would've stopped the cycle in any relavant areas and so with respect to algae blooms the oil is likely to have helped if anything.

That is not to say that the oil is not causing other issues of a similar nature - only time will tell.

[DCBob]

5. Yes, but the billions of microorganisms feasting on the oil can also cause hypoxia effects.

lots of metabolism going on so lots of O2 needed.

[dipsydoodle]

6. I'm not sure how the two relate

The algae sinks to the bottom whan it dies , with decomposition further contributing to the problem , but I've no idea what happens to the microorganisms. I've also no idea of the life cycle of the microorganisms. :shrug:

[DCBob]

8. the decomposition of algae is also done by microorganisms but probably a different type..

but the end result is the same.. hypoxia.

[SpiralHawk]

7. "Sneer." - Big Ag (R)

"Shut up and eat your mutant GMO chemicalized cloned processed facsimile rations, while our Roundup and toxic herbicides, pesticides and fungicides spew from the fields to the rivers to the Gulf. Sneer."

- Big Ag (R)