In Development That Should Surprise No One, We Can Expect Record Algae Blooms This Summer

[hatrack]

The historic rains that flooded millions of acres of Midwestern cropland this spring landed a blow to an already struggling farm economy. They also delivered bad news for the climate.

Scientists project that all that water has flushed vast amounts of fertilizer and manure into waterways, triggering a potentially unprecedented season of algae blooms. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted that the "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico—a massive overgrowth of algae—could become the size of Massachusetts this summer, coming close to a record set in 2017, and that an algae bloom in Lake Erie could also reach a record size.

"Every place in the Midwest is wet," said John Downing, an aquatic ecologist and director of the Minnesota Sea Grant. "There will be a terrific amount of algae blooms."

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These algae-filled waterways also emit methane, a powerful climate pollutant. Atmospheric methane has shot up over the past 12 years, threatening global emissions-reduction goals. Downing and his colleagues have determined that algae blooms could accelerate methane emissions even more. "We not only lose good water," he said, "we also exacerbate climate change." In a paper published earlier this year, Downing and his colleagues projected that, as the global population grows and more nutrients enter waterways over the next century, eutrophication could increase methane emissions from inland waters by 30 to 90 percent.

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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26062019/midwest-flooding-algae-blooms-dead-zone-climate-change-fertilizer-livestock-gulf-mexico-lake-erie

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